_Womeninsneakers is celebrating sneaker-passionate women working behind the scenes in the male-dominated field
Who
are _Womeninsneakers?
Created by Stephanie Hulbert-Thomas only this summer, _Womeninsneakers is emerging as the go-to place to celebrate women in the sneaker industry. With Q&As hearing from women working behind the scenes – from Nike guest designers to the Puma Product Manager – Stephanie has created a space for them to share their experiences and hopefully educate those wanting to get into the industry too. We spoke with Stephanie to hear more about starting _Womeninsneakers, the age-old issue of why the industry is so male-dominated, and what to expect from the platform in the future.
What
made Stephanie want to start _Womeninsneakers?
Stephanie: “Having worked in the sneaker industry for over 5 years, I felt that the way women were represented within the industry was skewed and failed to represent me and my experiences. In all honesty, I felt that female sneakerheads had become an archetype and pigeon-holed to all look a certain way. Not only was there a lack of representation but actually a lack of visibility and story-telling of the women behind the scenes. I had the pleasure of working with talented and inspiring women from all walks of life, but their successes were rarely visible to those on the outside.”
“Not only was there a lack of representation but actually a lack of visibility and story-telling of the women behind the scenes.”
Why
is the sneaker industry so male-dominated?
Stephanie: “I won’t go into the age-old rant of systemic inequality between men and women, but what I will say is that the sneaker industry’s roots come from sport. The sports industry is infamous for favouring men over women and so a direct result of that is that men dominate the sneaker industry. This has begun to shift in recent years, however simple changes such as size availability would make a huge difference. Alongside this, having women in decision making roles and innovation roles would really help diversify the sneaker industry, not just within brands but within media outlets too.”
How
does _Womeninsneakers hope to grow as a space in the industry?
Stephanie: “I hope _Womeninsneakers will not only be a platform for visibility and championing women in the industry but that it also becomes a resource for those wanting to get into sneaker-related job roles, and inspire them to go for the thing they have been thinking about starting. It’s also a space for people to show their creativity – I have a weekly segment called ‘pics of ya kicks’ where people tag or use #_Wis to feature. I’ve seen a breadth of talented people so far, with everything from illustration, embroidery, graphic design, and more!”
“I hope _Womeninsneakers will not only be a platform for visibility and championing women in the industry but that it also becomes a resource for those wanting to get into sneaker-related job roles...”
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