With many years of experience in the sneaker industry, Darius Billings continues to find a way to engage the community and lead them to some of the biggest shoe brands. Through the Black Lives Matter movement and other economic disparities, Billings stepped up and created a platform, the Strategic African American Retail Track, to build Black generational wealth, legacy, and community.
Billings is now The Athlete’s Foot’s VP of marketing and community engagement, where he works with current and new brands to promote their products on the retail and community side of the business.
What is the latest project The Athlete’s Foot has created to engage the community?
We’ve been able to roll out our new TAF 3.0 store concept, which [led to us hosting] a big block party event at Atlantic Station here in Atlanta. [We] took over the whole block and did a mural on the side of the building in Atlantic Station. That was a celebration of our new store design, which makes the store brighter. It’s able to make us have a larger capacity, especially when it comes to adding new streetwear apparel brands, to tell that 360 head-to-toe story. Instead of just coming in to buy sneakers and going somewhere else to buy the apparel, we’re able to satisfy that need for our consumers, especially with this new concept.
What advice would you give someone looking to push the culture in sneakers?
Depending on what your lane is, you have to find that lane. A lot of it is around educating, especially from a community standpoint. I always talk about educating young people about opportunities that they might not know exist within this culture and within this industry. People think you have to be an artist to be able to be a shoe designer, and they think that’s the only position that you can get, but there’s tons of opportunity within this industry and even talent, whether it’s music, sports, or sneakers. If you have a passion for something, go for it. Being able to expose the youth to those types of opportunities and those types of people so they can see that someone who looks like me is doing something fun, something great, and something that I have a passion for as well is a big thing.
What are some of the top sneakers that people need to know about?
There hasn’t been a lot that has been talked about. Of course, we have the retro drops and things of that nature, but we’re not in that kind of boutique lane, where they get the type of heat that people want. It’s always been consistent drops and it’s like you pick which Jordan you like the best this month or next month. Overall, it’s still just the normal Air Jordan Ones, the different retros, and the Air Jordan 4s have been hot.
