An entrepreneur who made his fortune selling clothes worn by Liverpool and Everton stars said he has used his profits to buy his parents a house.
Joe Johnson, from Wirral, said his sportswear line Yelir World is worn by some of the world's biggest football stars
Mr Johnson has just turned 30, and said he and business partner Josh Riley, 28, have "come from nothing" to launch their now-international firm, and will this year turn a profit of around £9m.
He told the Liverpool Echo : "I still can't describe how much everything has changed and how it has all happened in the last three years."
All the unique designs at Yelir World are inspired by the pair's journeys across the globe.
Wallasey-based Mr Johnson, who has lived in Paris and Barcelona as well as around the UK, said: "I have always been mad into fashion, so when I moved to Paris to be with my girlfriend, Georgia, I just networked."
He followed Georgia, 28, on to Barcelona where she was studying fashion and languages for university and said that "the Catalonians are mad into fashion too".
Mr Johnson added: "Me and Josh are very different people, but when we get together to design we just come up with the same ideas.
"We never really look at other brands, we just design what we know, what we like. We still mainly sell to the UK and Europe, so we are careful that any designs we have are something people here would want to buy."
Mr Johnson had tried to set up the company twice before, but it had never been the right time. Then he met Mr Riley and he said everything just fell into place.
He said: "Like me, Josh has travelled and done different jobs, he was a plumber with his dad before he became a personal shopper - one of the first on Instagram.
"I went to work with him and it just felt like the right time."
He said he remembers opening Yelir World's first bank account with no money in April 2018 but this year, but they will this year turn a profit of nearly £9m.
He said: "I remember making our first million, we didn't make a big thing about it, but it was scary.
"I always used to boast 'I'll be a millionaire at 21' and I was broke and moving from job-to-job - I have done every job you can think of and never stayed longer than three weeks.
"But it is like everything has built to this moment, and it has been f****** crazy. I think this drive that something is coming has helped make the business a success."
The efforts were worth it as orders from around the globe kept piling in, spurred on with the help of some famous footballers.
Mr Johnson said: "When we first started Trent Alexander-Arnold wasn't as big a player as he is now, but he bought from us and now loads of the Liverpool players do, Van Dyke, Curtis Jones, they all buy it.
"And the Everton players, Holgate, Godfrey..."
But it was when Wayne Rooney stepped off his plane in America to sign for DC United dressed head to toe in Yelir World.
Mr Johnson said: "We couldn't believe it, we had players from DC United making orders, then when those players moved, orders from all over."
With some of his earnings he bought mum, Michelle, 47, and dad, Dave, 48, a house, he said: "I felt I just had to, they have always been so supportive and I haven't always been in a good position.
"They were worried when I did hold down jobs, so this is a way of thanking them."
He added: "I believe if you keep doing good and never ask for anything in return, something good will eventually come from it - it may take a week, it may take a year or more, but something good will happen."
