Tagged: sneakers
15 results
Dimitrios Lessen
Dimitrios "Jimmy" Lessen is the Chief Merchandising Officer of SNIPES USA, appointed in February 2024. A 30-year veteran of the sneaker business, he built his career at Foot Locker in Europe and North America, running product strategy, buying, assortment planning and e-commerce before joining the German-founded, community-first streetwear retailer to lead its merchandising in the United States.
Kelly Olmstead
Kelly Olmstead is the Chief Marketing Officer of Allbirds, the San Francisco sustainable footwear and apparel brand. She brings more than 25 years across sporting goods, footwear and apparel, including nearly two decades at Adidas leading brand, retail and digital marketing for North America, and a stint as CMO of children's clothing brand Hanna Andersson. Since taking the top marketing seat at Allbirds in December 2023, she has anchored the company's turnaround on brand building over pure performance marketing, launching the 'Allbirds by Nature' platform and betting that consistency, storytelling and a beloved product can lift the brand's awareness the way it lifts its Net Promoter Score.
Converse
Converse is an American footwear and apparel company, founded in 1908 and owned by Nike since 2003, best known for the Chuck Taylor All Star - one of the most recognizable and best-selling sneakers ever made. Once the dominant supplier of American basketball shoes, Converse today operates as a heritage lifestyle brand at the intersection of sport, streetwear, music, art and skate culture, selling canvas and leather sneakers, apparel and custom designs directly to consumers worldwide and through wholesale and retail channels.
Crocs, Inc.
Crocs, Inc. is a Broomfield, Colorado footwear company best known for the molded-foam Classic Clog and its snap-in Jibbitz charms. Built on a proprietary closed-cell resin called Croslite, the once-polarizing shoe grew into a multi-billion-dollar global brand spanning clogs, sandals, and sneakers, plus the HEYDUDE casual-loafer label acquired in 2022. Trading on Nasdaq as CROX, the company reported roughly $4.0 billion in 2025 revenue and reaches customers in more than 80 countries through its own stores, wholesale partners, and a large direct-to-consumer digital business.
Foot Locker
Foot Locker, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories, connecting sneaker culture and sports lifestyle to consumers through roughly 2,400 stores across about 20 countries plus digital channels. Founded in 1974 as a division of the Kinney Shoe Corporation, the company operates a portfolio of banners - Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS, and atmos - and built its reputation on exclusive product launches, close ties to brands like Nike, and its striped, referee-styled store associates. In September 2025, Foot Locker was acquired by DICK'S Sporting Goods in a roughly $2.4 billion deal, becoming a subsidiary while retaining its brand banners.
JD Finish Line
JD Finish Line is the North American athletic footwear and apparel arm of UK-based JD Sports Fashion plc. Founded in Indianapolis in 1976 and built into a national sneaker chain under the Finish Line name, the business was acquired by JD Sports in 2018 for about $558 million. It sells premium multi-branded athletic footwear, apparel and accessories through Finish Line stores, Finish Line shop-in-shops inside more than 450 Macy's department stores, a growing fleet of JD-branded stores, and the finishline.com e-commerce platform. As of 2025 JD Sports is retiring the standalone Finish Line mall banner in favor of the JD nameplate while keeping the Finish Line brand alive inside Macy's.
New Balance
New Balance is a privately held, family-owned athletic footwear and apparel company founded in Boston in 1906. Originally a maker of arch supports and orthopedic shoes, it grew into one of the world's largest sportswear brands, known for its running shoes, the iconic 990 and 574 sneakers, its unusual commitment to domestic manufacturing in the US and UK, and a strategy of being 'the best, not the biggest.' The company reported roughly $9.2 billion in 2025 sales and competes globally with Nike, Adidas and others across running, lifestyle, basketball, tennis, baseball and soccer.
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company, headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and his former runner Phil Knight, it was renamed Nike in 1971 after the Greek goddess of victory. Nike designs, markets and sells footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories under the Nike, Jordan and Converse brands, reaching consumers through wholesale partners and a growing direct-to-consumer business of retail stores, apps and Nike.com. With roughly $46.3 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue and about 80,000 employees, Nike sits at the center of global sport culture, backed by decades of athlete endorsements, the Swoosh logo and the 'Just Do It' slogan.
OluKai
OluKai is a Hawaiian-inspired premium footwear brand that designs sandals, sneakers, slippers, boots and golf shoes for people who live an active, ocean-oriented lifestyle. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Irvine, California, the company blends the Hawaiian values of comfort ('olu') and ocean ('kai') with contoured, high-support footbeds and water-friendly, durable construction. A Certified B Corporation, OluKai channels a portion of every sale into its 'Ohana Giveback Program and the Ama OluKai Foundation to preserve Hawaiian culture and communities.
Saucony
Saucony is one of America's oldest athletic footwear brands, founded in 1898 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, and named after the nearby Saucony Creek. A subsidiary of Wolverine World Wide, the company designs performance running shoes and apparel for runners of every level, from race-day carbon-plated racers to everyday trainers and rugged trail shoes. Known for cushioning technologies like PWRRUN, PWRRUN PB and EVERUN and for the popular Endorphin, Triumph, Kinvara and Peregrine franchises, Saucony pairs a 125-plus-year manufacturing heritage with modern biomechanical design, while heritage models like the Jazz and Shadow have crossed over into streetwear and lifestyle fashion.
SNIPES
SNIPES is a global sneaker and streetwear retailer founded in Germany in 1998 and owned by the Deichmann Group. It sells footwear, apparel and accessories from brands like Nike, Jordan, adidas and New Balance across roughly 750 stores in the US and Europe plus its e-commerce sites, and positions itself as a culture-first brand tied to hip-hop, sport, music and youth communities.
Steve Madden
Steve Madden (Steven Madden, Ltd.) is a New York-based, publicly traded fashion company that designs, markets and sells trend-driven footwear, handbags and accessories at accessible price points. Founded in 1990 by designer Steve Madden with roughly $1,100, the company built its reputation on translating runway trends into affordable, fast-moving styles for young women. Today it operates a portfolio of owned and licensed brands - including Steve Madden, Dolce Vita, Betsey Johnson, Madden Girl and, following its 2025 acquisition, Kurt Geiger - across wholesale, retail and direct-to-consumer channels, generating over $2.5 billion in annual net sales.
Timberland
Timberland is an American outdoor footwear and apparel company best known for its waterproof yellow boot, introduced in 1973. Founded on the shoemaking work of Nathan Swartz and his Abington Shoe Company, the brand grew from rugged workwear into a cultural staple embraced by hip-hop and streetwear before becoming a global lifestyle label. Now a VF Corporation brand headquartered in Stratham, New Hampshire, Timberland sells boots, sneakers, apparel and accessories through retail, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer channels, while pursuing circular design goals through its Timberloop take-back program.
Novelship
Novelship is a Singapore-based online marketplace for buying and selling authentic sneakers, streetwear, apparel and collectibles across Asia-Pacific. Founded in 2018, it connects buyers and sellers through a bid-and-ask model, verifies every item in-house before it ships, and has grown into one of the region's largest platforms for limited-edition drops from brands like Nike, Jordan, Adidas, New Balance and ASICS.
Justin Gage
Justin Gage is the founder and writer of Technically, a newsletter that makes software and AI concepts accessible to non-engineers. With 72,000+ subscribers on Substack, he built one of the most respected tech-explainer newsletters from scratch - conceived during a 7-hour Tokyo airport layover - growing it without paid ads through authentic writing and word-of-mouth. By day, he serves as VP of Developer Marketing at Amplify Partners, an early-stage VC firm focused on technical founders.