Joshua Parr is the founder of Tradez, a Wigan-based sports collectables company creating premium, story-led trading cards. Launching with rugby league, Tradez plans to expand into other sports and collector experiences. Tradez was born out of Joshua’s friendship with George Williams, England rugby league international.
“If he’d played any other sport, I’d have been able to collect cards and build my own collection of his career,” Joshua says. “That wasn’t the case, so when George started his own family, I wanted his kids to be able to collect and experience that, an England captain, a Warrington captain, the same way fans of other sports get to.” He’s been a resident desk member at Weave since February 2026, though his connection to the building goes back further than that.
A building site, and a message on a cold February night
Joshua first came across Cotton Works about a year and a half ago, after a friend recommended it as somewhere to try out while he was in that awkward in-between stage of remote work – working from home some days, and travelling into Manchester two or three days a week the rest of the time.
“On a cold, wet night last February, I sent Lee Dalgleish a message about the project he was working on with Cotton Works,” he says. “The morning after, he got back to me and said if I wanted to come and take a look, I was more than welcome to get a tour. At that point it was still very much a building site and a work in progress – but when you’ve got a project this big, and you live just round the corner, it’s difficult not to hear about it. I knew I’d do it eventually.”
A change of scenery, and a reason to get up
For Joshua, the impact of moving from home working into Weave has been as much personal as it has been about the business.
“Cotton Works has been a complete refresh for me personally,” he says. “After Covid, working from home just became the normal, and I fell into it quite heavily. Coming here gets you out of bed and meeting new people face to face, on a daily basis – something a lot of people got unfamiliar with over the last couple of years. There’s real value in that.”
On the business side, he points to something simpler – having somewhere he’s genuinely proud to bring people. “It’s a really warm, bright space to bring guests to,” he says. “We’ve always got availability in the meeting rooms, which are a great size. And afterwards, we can head down to Three Mills for a coffee. It’s the perfect mix of social and business, all in one place.”
Building a legacy, not travelling for one
Ask Joshua what he likes most about being at Weave, and it isn’t a feature of the building – it’s what the place represents.
“I like to associate Tradez with the nature of Cotton Works, and the long-term vision behind it,” he says. “We’re a Wigan-based startup, and that goes hand in hand with what I believe Weave is about – meeting new people, having big, aspirational ideas, and being under a roof we’re all familiar with. It’s home to us. We’re not travelling to Manchester or Liverpool to bring our dreams to life. We’re here in Wigan.”
Pizza Fridays and a World Cup card for everyone in the office
Joshua says the mix of people at Weave is unlike anything his day-to-day would normally put him in a room with – marketing, sport, technology, and, through the Heaton Group’s own contractors, an industrial side of business he doesn’t usually encounter.
“I’ve been really proud to get involved with that mix, and to learn people’s stories,” he says. “We’re kind of camped out in a corner of Weave, but Nick and Steve over there have become genuinely good friends, to the point where we started our own Pizza Friday. We take it in turns walking down to Domino’s every Friday to pick up pizzas for everyone.”
He also points to smaller, sillier moments that add up – “We had a bit of fun over the summer with the World Cup – every person in the office got their own personalised World Cup card. And you’re forever meeting new people here, whether that’s former Wigan Warriors and England head coach Shaun Wane coming in with his own aura, or whoever else is trying to build a base for themselves that week.”
His advice to anyone on the fence
Joshua’s pitch for Weave is simple – stop looking further afield than your own back garden.
“If you’ve spent the last ten years working in an office, at home or in Manchester or Liverpool, you don’t need to look any further than right back where you live,” he says. “It’s been hard to find somewhere local and up-market that still feels a lot like Manchester, but it’s five minutes away and a fraction of the cost. If you want somewhere to go for a coffee, and somewhere to go and have a social afterwards, darts, pool, whatever it is, look no further than Weave. And it’s only going to keep growing, so get in early. You get to be part of the journey and put your own mark on it.”
What people don’t expect about coworking
Asked what surprises people about coworking once they try it, Joshua goes straight to the trade-off at the heart of it.
“There’s some risk to it,” he says. “If you’re paying for your own workspace, you have to be able to guarantee you can keep paying for it, that’s the base level of what a business should be able to do. For me, that’s the perfect balance – somewhere local and affordable enough that I can keep building the business from the ground up, but it still has that weight on your back. If you’re not pulling your weight day to day, you can lose it easily. It’s the best of both worlds, it gets you out of bed and out of the house, but it also gives you a reason to.”
Weave is…
“Weave is what Wigan is all about – dreaming big, striving for success, and being the best you can be. I come here with that same ambition, and I’d like to thank everyone involved with Weave for building towards the exact same thing.”
“Personally, I feel incredibly fortunate to have so many people supporting and working alongside us as we build Tradez. I’m grateful to our investors, business partners and ambassadors for the support they’ve given us. Tradez is a team effort, and I don’t take that for granted.”
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