Foot Locker puts employees front and center in its holiday campaign

Jenkins, a 33-year Foot Locker veteran and the company’s head of stores, became a Striper straight out of college and finds it “surreal” to star in his first campaign for the company. He is also the first store leader to front a Foot Locker holiday campaign. “It’s a full-circle moment,” he told Modern Retail. “To be at this point right now, to be able to represent the brand, represent the Stripers and stand alongside the Stripers … is a special moment.”

The campaign points to Foot Locker’s employee-focused marketing efforts as it looks to spur growth. Foot Locker considers its thousands of Stripers its differentiator and is showcasing them more in social media and messaging this year, Chief Marketing Officer Brett O’Brien previously told Modern Retail. Employee-generated content, as a whole, is becoming more popular among brands and retailers looking to step up their storytelling.

In May, Stripers appeared in Foot Locker’s campaign “Hoops Lives Here,” which also starred NBA and WNBA players. An October spot showed Stripers at work in the stock room, alongside Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks. Earlier this week, Foot Locker published an Instagram video in which one of its Stripers showed off the “top five basketball sneakers.”

“[The Stripers] are the lifeblood of everything we do,” O’Brien said. “You’re going to see a lot more content coming out [about] what gets them excited [and] what they love about launches, releases, new colors and what’s happening in the stores around back to school, around holiday, you name it.” Foot Locker is also focusing more on long-form content, collaborations and in-store programming this year.

Many retail players, hoping to stand out in the crowded fourth quarter, are tapping celebrities for their 2026 holiday campaigns. Swarovski is joining forces with Ariana Grande, while Ulta Beauty is teaming up with Selena Gomez, Tate McRae and Tracee Ellis Ross. Old Navy’s ad spot features Alan Cumming, Meg Stalter, Paris Hilton and Charli D’Amelio. Gucci is working with Mariah Carey, Target is working with D’Arcy Carden, and Kohl’s is working with Ellie Kemper.

Foot Locker is still partnering with big names and recently announced a multi-year deal with Caitlin Clark. For its holiday campaign, though, it wanted to feature Stripers, named for their black-and-white referee-style uniforms. The Stripers bring “the passion, the knowledge and the expertise that customers need at a time like this,” Jenkins said.

Foot Locker’s shoppers are looking for the right holiday gifts, but buying sneakers can be intimidating for those unfamiliar with the space, Jenkins said. The Stripers can offer guidance and provide “a good emotional connection with our customers,” he added.

Online and in stores, shoppers will see items designated as “George’s Picks” via shoe tags, signage and displays. “We’re making it easy to walk in the store and see what’s hot, see what’s new,” Jenkins said. He added that Foot Locker wants to “make sure that the products are prominently placed and not overwhelming for the consumer.” Online, the team is working to improve inventory to avoid stockouts.

Retailers expect to see a blockbuster holiday season. The National Retail Federation projected that U.S. holiday retail sales for November and December will reach a record $1.013 trillion, although that could stem from higher prices. A recent NRF survey found that more than half of holiday shoppers (56%) say the state of the economy will affect their holiday spending plans this year.

The footwear industry has had a challenging year, thanks to flip-flopping tariffs and a squeezed oil supply. According to Circana, for the three-month period ending in September, footwear dollar sales were flat year over year, while units sold declined in the mid-single-digits. For the holiday season, Circana expects the footwear market to remain stable, with spending concentrated around Cyber Week.

“Consumers are making deliberate choices about how and when they spend their discretionary dollars,” said Beth Goldstein, executive director and footwear industry analyst at Circana. “This holiday season, brands that align with consumers’ interests and deliver products that feel relevant, whether through performance, comfort, style or gifting appeal, will be best positioned to capture demand.”

Along these lines, Foot Locker’s holiday assortment features multiple brands at various price points. Customers can expect to see styles from Vans, Nike, New Balance and Timberland, among others. “We work hard to not be too reliant on any one particular brand,” Jenkins said. “Customers don’t want that. They are looking for optionality.”

Foot Locker will judge the success of its holiday campaign on factors including traffic, revenue and engagement. More broadly, the company has worked to kickstart sales, revamp stores and move product more quickly. Foot Locker, which was acquired by Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2025 for $2.4 billion, recently marked its first positive comps since the end of 2024. The company returned to profitability in the first quarter of 2026. The fourth quarter drove about 28% of Foot Locker’s annual revenue in fiscal 2024, a time prior to the Dick’s acquisition.

There have, however, been some speed bumps for Foot Locker. In August, Dick’s Sporting Goods reported that pro forma comps for Foot Locker declined 3.6% in the second quarter. Executives attributed the slower performance to several factors, including a heavily promotional environment, elevated inventory of legacy footwear silhouettes, fewer footwear launches, and challenges in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“But let me be clear,” executive chairman Ed Stack said on an earnings call in August. “We believe the Dick’s business remains strong, and none of this changes our confidence in the long-term opportunity at Foot Locker. We’re still early in the Foot Locker turnaround. We continue to invest to strengthen the business for the long term.”