youth-culture
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Clint Runge Built an Agency That Refuses to Grow Old
He started with architecture, a $500 car-wash idea and the nerve to learn in public. Nearly three decades later, Archrival is joining Havas Play without surrendering the Midwestern character that made it useful.
VICE Bet $5.7 Billion on Owning Youth Culture. Bankruptcy Taught It to Rent.
The punk magazine that became a media empire lost the economics before it lost the audience. Its second act is smaller, stranger and surprisingly practical: finance the shows, license the brand and let partners carry the machinery.
The Sneaker Shop That Runs Its Own Radio Station
How a single Baltimore shoe store became a 250-location fixture of American sneaker culture - and why it plays its own soundtrack.
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.
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.
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.
Rodney Rambo Made Listening the Loudest Move at Converse
For more than a decade, Rodney Rambo has helped a century-old sneaker stay in the present tense. His method is unusually quiet for marketing: protect the icon, listen to the people wearing it, and know when the comments have become a chorus.