‘Collecting dust for several years’ – Wycombe sports shop puts old items to good use
A High Wycombe sports shop has become one of the first in the Thames Valley region to specialise in retro shirt printing and restoration.
Sports Crest, which is located within the Eden Shopping Centre, sells regular sporting goods that range from tennis, golf, hockey, track and field plus more.
They also offer to print names on the back of current football shirts, but only until recently have they decided to specialise in the niche market of dealing with old jerseys.
This came after several football memorabilia collectors asked the well-respected establishment if they did one-off requests which Sports Crest obliged to.
James McKenzie, 24, who oversees the printing process, said: “We do cater to mainly those living in the High Wycombe area, but had had a few people up near Middlesborough who stumbled upon our website.
“They wanted some shirts to be printed and we were able to do that for them.
“They post it to us, we do the work, and post it back so it’s quite easy to do.
“However, we do want to broaden our horizons a bit and get further afield as there aren’t a lot of people who do what we offer.
“When I’ve looked on Google for unique shirt printing or restorations, the nearest one is in London and it’s quite overpriced.”
Since branching out in the niche field of dealing with old shirts, James has revealed what kits have come his way.
These include dealing with Juventus and AC Milan tops, whilst old Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Middlesborough shirts have also been worked on.
This comes after thousands of vinyl and felt letters and numbers dating back to 1993 have been left in storage.
They had been ‘collecting dust for several years’, with those in charge of the shop wanting to put them to good use.
Additionally, the store also focuses on dealing with unique printings when it comes to other sports or companies.
These focus on printing logos onto pieces of clothing.
James continued: “Of course, being in Wycombe, we do get a lot of people coming in to have their Wanderers shirts worked on.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and I can tell you that the names that always pop up are Adebayo Akinfenwa, Sam Vokes and Joe Jacobson.
“We have had a lot of Vokes shirts come in, and with Akinfenwa, there was a huge increase from when he had his book released.
“It was around three Akinfenwa shirts a day from around 2016 to 2018.”
On a recent job he did, the 24-year-old added: “I recently did an Arsenal 2005/06 home shirt.
“I was so careful in doing it as it’s rare and old, so you’ve got to have a lot of care when dealing with the shirts.”
For more information, go to www.sportcrest.co.uk.
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Wycombe Sports Shop Gives New Life to Old Jerseys
