Foot Locker Takes on Streetwear Gender Gap with ‘Behind Her Label’ Launch

Today, Foot Locker announces the launch of new initiative, Behind Her Label; an international platform designed to reduce the gender gap in streetwear culture by elevating the long-time contributions of women which have previously gone unrecognised.  The first European partnership is with London based streetwear designer, Aida Kiraya, aka Afro Kickz.

The campaign is part of Foot Locker’s wider online platform, ‘Powered By You’, which aims to create a more progressive future for all, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, size or ability.

Foot Locker recognises the gender gap that exists in streetwear design, and so is taking steps to reduce this by introducing ‘Behind Her Label’ – a platform that elevates and provides resources to emerging female streetwear designers. Each collaborator will create an exclusive product collection which will be sold in one chosen Foot Locker store in their home city, and on the Foot Locker EU webpage.

The initiative’s first collaborator, Aida Kiraya, will create a capsule collection of Vans, taking inspiration from her African heritage, 50 of which will be available to buy at Foot Locker from April.

Aida launched her sneaker customising brand, Afro Kickz, back in 2018, with the aim to create sneakers that were inspired by traditional African imagery and modern black culture. Growing up in North London, Aida and her peers would shy away from embracing their African heritage, which is why she decided to create something that would change that narrative for future generations. Afro Kickz was born out of the love Aida had for sneakers growing up, merged with the love she now has for her culture as an adult.

Aida Kiraya, founder and sneaker customiser at Afro Kickz said: “My work is inspired by African and black culture; whether that’s other artists or inspirational figures or different parts of African culture. I really think it’s important to celebrate African culture because growing up I didn’t have that many people to look up to.

“I also don’t feel like women get a lot of recognition when it comes to streetwear, especially in my line of work. I think it’s really important to highlight women in streetwear, not a lot of people think that women are actually behind the designs they see - when I first started customising, a lot of people would always assume that I was a guy.

“I feel really honoured to have this platform with Foot Locker, because I feel like it’s a way to not only showcase the fact that I’m a woman but I’m also a black woman doing things that are inspired by where I’m from.”

Carmen Seman, Vice president of marketing for Foot Locker in Europe, said: “Through Behind Her Label, our mission is to help close the gender gap in streetwear culture by providing resources and giving an elevated platform to emerging female streetwear designers.

“We’re excited about the collaborations with local designers; they are unique, extremely talented and their love for streetwear culture shines through in their respective collections.”

Following the launch in London this April, Behind Her Label will span key European markets such as Paris and Milan this year, before potentially expanding into the Middle East.

Aida’s collection will be available in the UK from April 2021.