Happy International Women’s Day sneakerheads!
To celebrate this very special day and month dedicated to uplifting and championing influential women across the globe, we’ve decided to shine a light on a handful of inspirational women who are making waves in the creative industry.
From journaling their successes, and challenges to educating the future generation of creatives, this series is all about empowering the women-led initiatives that have continued to make a positive impact on society. No matter how big or small, we’re all ears and we hope you are too!
First in the hot seat is Steph, a self-proclaimed marketing prodigy and a long-time sneakerhead who has had her feet burrowed in many female-led initiatives starting with her Women’s In Sneakers Instagram page, her 8-month creative agency start-up Gang Gang as well as becoming a contributing editor to SheakerMag. Cooking up a storm - not just with her food but within the sneaker world, we caught up with Steph to find out more about her ambitions within the creative industry.
Read the full interview below
C: Hey Steph, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with the Crep Family! First and foremost we would like to ask how are you doing.
S: Yeah, I’m good, I’m super busy. I just started an agency late last year called Gang Gang which is all about community and socials like TikTok and how we can merge those together and work with brands.
S: I am a bit of what I like to call myself the jill of all trades, I do a little bit of everything! Traditionally my background is in marketing, I did brand partnerships at ASOS, and I did sneaker brand partnerships where I looked after adi, Reebok, Vans, North Face etc.
I also worked with On Running as well, they are a Swiss sneaker brand, I helped them launch their lifestyle product, and I worked on everything from market plans to concepts, and content creation with influencers and how they should do events and how they show up in the sneakerhead landscape.
I also do production, if you don’t know what production is, it is basically like the behind-the-scenes of how a shoot comes together. All the beautiful content you see coming through from brands and creatives, you have like a producer who works behind the scenes to make that all happen.
I work as a producer/ project manager, I also do a lot of relationship building I would say. A lot of my roles are about building relationships, connecting people and making sure that everybody is staying on track with what they need to deliver.
C: What was the first moment you realised you had a love and passion for sneakers?
S: It was from a super young age, so there’s a two-fold right. There was a store in Oxford, so that’s where I am from. The store was called Ryouki in Oxford and sold streetwear. That was the first of its kind that I ever experienced, I used to go in there all the time with my dad and look at all the shoes, clothes, everything. Every weekend my dad would take me and it was run by Ryan who runs the Drop Date now, it was his store.
C: Do you think there is a differentiation between Oxford Streetwear compared to London Streetwear?
S: Yeah, 100% and I think that’s a really important point as when I am going to marketing strategies and stuff I am kind of there am I like ‘Ok yes London is a hub, it’s a hub of culture, it’s bubbling and bustling, it’s like a melting point for people. I also went to university in Leeds, the style in Leeds is completely different to London and Manchester.
I think there is a difference growing up in Oxford, yes there are definitely influences from London. There’s a lot of students in London as well, there’s a lot of vintage style, there’s kind of a lot of youth in Oxford. Also, I don’t want to say old, but there is kind of an older demographic in Oxford as well. This combination is really impactful. I would say in terms of fashion culture, I would say there is a subculture of sneakerheads in Oxfordshire.
C: Are you more of an advocate for Independent stores or do you like mainstream fashion, what is your take on that?
S: So, I love independence and I think the challenge that they have is the brands kind of dictate what product that they get and that is really tricky for them to survive. Ultimately if you think of Pam Pam which was a female-only store based in London, they closed down and that’s because certain brands were not giving them the product that they needed to thrive and I think that is something that brands could be better at.
They have an account system; top tier accounts so let's say an END for example would be a top tier account, then you’ll have like a JD or a Size? would be a Tier B account then you’ll have a Tier C that would be JD Sports for example they manage their product that way.
I’ve tried to remove myself from the platform and differentiate myself and women in sneakers, even though it’s my baby, it’s really important that other people are at the forefront. I don’t want it to be about me and what I am doing for it, it’s more like ‘ok, who are the people in the community that support me by simply just following and liking the post?’ How can I champion them and support them and that’s how Women in Sneakers came about and that's where I see it moving forward.
In terms of Sheakermag, working with Angelee from Sheakermag is great! The reason that came about was we were on a Zoom call and we were like we should work together, this is a vibe. That’s kind of how that came about and we all kind of have our elements and areas to focus on and think about and as I said, people are my passion, so I say how can we write about this or this person? What is something that hasn’t been done before and how can we put a unique spin on it? Working with Angelee from Sheakermag was a wonderful byproduct of creating a platform like Women in Sneakers.
Then Gang Gang came about because we were all working on TikTok and we were like let’s start our own thing. I worked with my two business partners, Chris is one of my business partners. I worked with him at ASOS, I worked with him at TikTok, and I trust him. He does a lot of amazing stuff, very talented and Hannah I met at TikTok as well and she is equally as talented. She is amazing at branding and amazing and honing in on people and how people can come through in their brand and personality which is beautiful.
The guys did all the editing and design, branding and stuff. We also worked with brands like Netflix and lots of big brands and we’re only like 8 months old, so we’re still in our infancy and we’re still kind of like babies so yeah, we’re taking each day as it comes and going with it. It’s really fun and I get to work with my friends.
I love the Air Jordan 1 ‘Lucky Greens’ and the Sacai’s as well, I really love the Sacai’s, I think they are an interesting take on a chunky sneaker and how a brand can jump on a trend. It was one of my favourites of how a luxury fashion house has taken a silhouette, chopped it, re-used the proportions of it and made it into something wearable.
C: As an influential woman in the world of sneakers, what does International Women’s Month mean to you?
S: You know what, I am not going to lie, I find it really stressful. I feel like because I run a female-focused platform, I feel like there’s so much pressure to create and have an output and I can’t actually enjoy the camaraderie of International Women’s Day as much as I would like to. I am always feeling like I have to do something or being under pressure to act on something or put a campaign out there or collaborate.
I just want to enjoy being a woman and I would like to have it as a day where I do nothing. I am always doing something, constantly moving, constantly doing something, so for me International Women’s Day, well the positive side of it is if I didn’t get in my head about it is that it is camaraderie. All women coming together, championing each other and supporting each other and I think that’s a beautiful thing.
I think International Women’s Day is an opportunity for people to reflect on who they are and what they are doing, how they approach things and how they take an outward look at kind of people's experiences because the event I am doing on the 8th, guys were like ‘can we come to this?’ and I was like, of course, you can come to this. Someone said to me it focuses on the importance of female-only spaces and thought it was an opportunity for it to be a female-only event.
Men need to understand why having a female-only space is important and actually champion women and everything they contribute to society and everything they contribute to the functioning of the world. I think there are so many unsung heroes when it comes to women.
S: You know what it is a bit of a mad one right, I really like tech and stuff as well. I am not super nerdy but I am like interested in tech, and NFTs and to see how that influences culture, so I think that there’s going to be more digitisation of sneaker culture for sure. I think we’ve seen that it’s gone more and more online.
I think athletes are going to influence the sneaker industry more than before and what I mean by that is more from a style and fashion sense. If you think about Jacquemus and Sha’Carri Richardson they’ve used her as their muse let’s say as the main person and because they’re launching that product for the Olympics. I think the way that athletes are going to influence kind of sneaker culture, style and fashion is going to be very different now high-end fashion is influencing it more.
S: For sure and on the point of performance shoes and footwear I feel like that’s only going to grow if you think of Salomon and Hoka, On Running, GORETEX all those practical utility products are going to say present because people want function as well comfort. They want it to look good that is only going to continue and grow more because people want stuff that’s going to last and to be all conditions.
C: Are there any exciting projects that you are working on this year that you can share with the Crep Family?