Lacing Up for the Future: Empowering Teams and Igniting Sneaker Culture

At the 2025 CommerceNext Growth Show, Foot Locker’s Global Chief Customer Officer, Kim Waldmann, joined Mina Fader, Managing Director of the Baker Retailing Center at UPenn, for the keynote “Lacing Up for the Future: Empowering Teams and Igniting Sneaker Culture.” Their conversation offered an inside look at how a global brand with decades of history is reinventing itself for the next generation of consumers and what retail leaders can learn from that journey.

This session covered:

• The “Lace Up Strategy:” A Clear Framework for Growth
• Loyalty Reinvented from the Frontline
• Empowering Teams to Build a Culture of Curiosity
• Expanding Audiences: Women and Gen Z at the Center of Sneaker Culture
• Leading Retail Through Change

 

The “Lace Up Strategy:” A Clear Framework for Growth

Foot Locker’s recent transformation is guided by its “Lace Up Strategy,” a growth strategy introduced in 2023 and built on four pillars: expanding sneaker culture, powering up its store portfolio, deepening customer relationships and delivering a best-in-class omnichannel experience. 

Waldmann underscored the importance of clarity and consistency in communicating this vision: “Every single person in our company knows the four pillars… you can never say it enough.”

The real results come from the power of a shared north star. In times of change, strategy must not only be defined but also repeated until it becomes part of the organizational DNA. If everyone at the company is not aligned, your vision will not come to fruition.

Loyalty Reinvented from the Frontline

A highlight of the session was Foot Locker’s story of rethinking loyalty. The brand’s corporate teams had assumed low program participation was due to weak marketing. But conversations with store associates revealed a different truth: sign-up was difficult, mobile validation was clunky and mall Wi-Fi was often unreliable. By fixing these pain points, loyalty quickly scaled from just 20% of sales to more than half within a year.

The reality is that often, the best insights come from store associates interacting with customers in person every day. Data tells part of the story, but employees closest to customers are often the first to spot what’s really blocking growth. 

When frontline perspectives are elevated alongside quantitative data, leaders gain a fuller picture of customer needs and can prioritize solutions that deliver immediate impact.

Empowering Teams to Build a Culture of Curiosity

Waldmann emphasized that transformation requires teams willing to ask questions and challenge assumptions. 

“A culture of ‘why’ leads to people coming in with a hypothesis grounded in data, and it encourages more of the dialogue and debate that gets to second or third-order thinking,” she explained.

This broader view of “data” includes consumer insights, competitor wins and cultural signals—elements too often discounted in favor of spreadsheets. By balancing art and science, Foot Locker is building a culture that rewards curiosity, not just correctness.

Expanding Audiences: Women and Gen Z at the Center of Sneaker Culture

One of the most significant shifts in Foot Locker’s strategy has been expanding sneaker culture to invite in more women. Store redesigns now feature more space and storytelling for women’s products, while campaigns spotlight female athletes and creators. The results are tangible: the women’s category is now the fastest-growing at Foot Locker.

Gen Z also represents a key growing audience. Waldmann noted that younger consumers are increasingly less interested in hype for hype’s sake, and more focused on sneakers as a medium of self-expression. 

“It’s not about having the one sneaker,” she said, “but having all of the options and being able to lean into different looks and styles depending on your mood.”

Leading Retail Through Change

The keynote closed with leadership lessons, stressing the importance of setting a clear vision, enlisting employees in shaping the “how” and fostering a culture where learning from experiments is celebrated as much as winning. 

As she put it, “If you only reward being right, you’re only going to get sure bet answers back. But if you applaud when someone tried something and maybe it didn’t work out, then you’re encouraging creativity and big swings.”

CommerceNext Steps:

• Obsess the customer. Today’s consumers are the new trendsetters. Brand leadership requires tuning in, asking why and responding fast. 
• Craft a vision and keep endorsing it. Be sharp and consistent on your north star and goals. Empower the team to help you get there.
• Create a culture of curiosity. Reward the learns along with the wins. Promote dialogue and debate that propels growth.
• The future of retail is an ‘AND’ not an ‘OR’. AI and human-powered experiences will live together to elevate the customer experience.

 

Join us at CommerceNext’s Post-Purchase Forum on October 15 in New York City for more strategic insights and forward-looking sessions. Apply now to elevate your post-purchase experience and drive stronger customer loyalty.