Harborough entrepreneur creates unique trainers to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Leah Giles has designed and made the special one-off pink shoes – complete with tiny boobs – to showcase the nationwide campaign urging women to check their breasts regularly.

A dynamic young Market Harborough entrepreneur has created a unique pair of customised trainers to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Leah Giles, 24, has designed and made the special one-off pink shoes – complete with tiny boobs – to showcase the nationwide campaign urging women to check their breasts regularly.

The De Montfort University fashion graduate has teamed up with top lingerie brand Curvy Kate and breast cancer charity CoppaFeel to help promote the vital lifesaving mission.

And now one lucky person is to be chosen at random to win a pair of Leah’s customised super-trendy Nike Air Force 1 trainers.

“We’ve all got to try to do our bit to make women more aware of this terrible illness.

“Breast cancer strikes so many women in the UK alone every year that the more we do to make people aware of it the better,” said Leah, of Great Bowden.

“So I’ve got together with Curvy Kate and CoppaFeel to help spread the word.

“Women everywhere have got to regularly check their breasts for anything abnormal.

“And if you do find anything out of the ordinary you have to seek medical help immediately.

“Breast cancer is still affecting far too many women week in week out.

“So the more we can all do to combat it the better,” said Leah.

“I’m delighted that I’ve been able to make my own contribution by designing and creating my very own boob trainers for Curvy Kate.

“They send out a very powerful visual message helping to publicise and focus on the whole breast cancer campaign.”

Inspired Leah said she started to customise trainers during the Covid lockdowns over the last 18 months.

“I couldn’t go into university and was stuck at home in Great Bowden with a lot of time on my hands.

“So I had the idea one day that I’d start to paint shoes,” said the talented creator.

“I love doing it – so much so that I’ve now launched my own business.

“And it’s taking off so brilliantly that I’m even starting to get international orders now!

“I either buy the footwear myself and individualise them for customers.

“Or people send their shoes to me and I go to work on them,” said Leah.

“I paint them, change the colours, modify them – it’s just amazing what we can do.

“Buying specially-adapted trainers isn’t so big in the UK yet – but it’s huge in America.

“You can express your own personality and just who you are through your shoes.

“Your trainers send out a very striking echo of you – and they’re an instant talking point, a cracking conversation starter.

“And there’s massive variety too.

“I can paint a pair in a day – while some have taken me a few weeks.

“It all depends what people want me to do,” said Leah.

“Block colours can cost £60-£80, without the shoes, while a wave design will go up to about £200.

“I’m operating solely on social media at the moment but I hope to set up my own website in future.

“I’m so happy that it’s going so well, it’s very exciting and I’m loving it.”

You can find out much more about Leah and the amazing work that she does on her social media pages here:

Instagram: @lab_customs.uk

Tik Tok: lab_customs

And you can discover more about the CoppaFeel breast cancer charity here: https://coppafeel.org/