‘s newest marketing platform goals to get to the core of sneaker culture.

The athletic retailer is revealing the “The Heart of Sneakers,” a world platform that can guide Foot Locker’s brand’s campaigns, online and in-store experiences and community events. The initiative launches alongside Foot Locker’s 2023 holiday campaign, which contains a series of NBA stars tied to top brand partners, including Nike, Under Armour and more.

“The platform is actually all about celebrating sneaker culture and showing how Foot Locker continues to play a very integral role as an originator and leader within the sneaker community,” Foot Locker Inc.’s vice chairman of promoting Holly Tedesco said in an interview.

Foot Locker employees, best often called “Stripers,” shall be prominently featured across the accompanying campaigns, acting because the bridge between sneakers and people who love them.

“A key differentiator for our brand globally is the Stripers,” Tedesco said. “They’ve the facility to feel the fervour, whether you’re a sneaker head otherwise you’re just coming in to seek out what’s best for you.”

The platform is consistent with Foot Locker’s stated goal to attach more deeply with and expand sneaker culture. The retailer outlined this objective in March as a part of its “Lace Up” strategic plan recommend by chief executive officer Mary Dillon that is supposed to assist Foot Locker increase market share and grow sales to $9.5 billion by 2026. Before joining Foot Locker, Dillon raised Ulta Beauty’s profile through similar efforts in the sweetness sphere.

“Our first imperative is to expand sneaker culture by serving more sneaker occasions, providing more alternative and driving greater distinction,” Dillon said in a call with analysts in August, discussing this arm of the Lace Up plan that seeks to tap into different classes of sneaker consumers — from sneaker mavens to deal seekers — to grow its market share.

A part of this pillar involves capitalizing on key sneaker moments and anniversaries while offering consumers a broad choice of brands and styles. Exclusive launches and collaborations may even fuel demand, she said.

“As our team strengthens that strategy tied right back to the Lace Up plan, you’re going to see experiences and assortment curation from a store and digital perspective that’s leaning into that strength and taking us to a recent level by way of how we’re going to attach with the buyer,” Tedesco said.

For the vacations, Foot Locker goes all-in on basketball in a recent campaign that features Kevin Durant with Nike, LaMelo Ball with Puma, Anthony Edwards with Adidas and Steph Curry with Under Armour. Singer-songwriter Enisa may even be featured.

“When you consider the DNA of Foot Locker, sneaker culture and the culture of basketball is actually core to how we connect with the buyer and the way we construct communities,” Tedesco said.

This basketball push comes as Foot Locker leans more deeply into this category for further growth, leveraging partnerships with brands like Nike and Jordan to bring recent product to life. Foot Locker executive vice chairman and chief industrial officer Frank Bracken said in August that court classics and retro styles from Nike and Jordan “proceed to be a meaningful connection point to the culture of basketball for our men’s, women’s and children’ consumers.”

Foot Locker in August reported a sales drop and loss within the second quarter, prompting the retailer to downgrade its outlook for the total 12 months. The corporate expects sales for fiscal 12 months 2023 to be down between 8 and 9 percent.