The Athlete's Foot (TAF), a renowned sneaker store, has been making strides in promoting Black ownership within the footwear industry through its Strategic African American Retail Track (StAART) program .
Launched in the summer of 2020 amidst the Black Lives Matter Movement, the StAART program aims to address one of the significant disparities in the footwear industry - the underrepresentation of Black entrepreneurs in leadership and profit-making positions. The StAART program was conceived by Darius Billings,
the senior director of product and marketing for The Athlete’s Foot USA. He noted that while Black people are the primary consumers and influencers of sneakers and athletic apparel, they are not adequately represented in positions of leadership or profit.
The StAART program is designed to change this narrative by increasing African American representation and ownership within the sneaker industry, particularly through franchising. Through StAART, TAF directly recruits, develops, and mentors Black entrepreneurs using its retail franchise model.
The program provides StAART franchisees with access to resources, systems, relationships with strategic brand partners, and a mentorship network. This approach addresses many of the barriers that typically prevent Black entrepreneurs from launching and successfully sustaining their businesses.
In a remarkable move, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, an award-winning gospel musician and songwriter, became the first-ever recipient of TAF’s StAART program…
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