Foot Locker launched the inaugural program “Behind Her Label,” a national platform designed to celebrate and elevate women’s long-time contributions to streetwear culture. The initiative highlights three emerging female designers and their creative journeys. The designers will be creating an exclusive product collection for Foot Locker Women.

The capsule collection is influenced by the designer‘s love of basketball and streetwear culture and will be available for purchase in mid-November through each designer’s websites.

“Foot Locker created ‘Behind Her Label’ to close the gender gap between male and female designers in streetwear by providing an elevated platform and the global reach of Foot Locker to grow their emerging brands,” said Alexis Stoll-Scigliano, Director of Marketing, Foot Locker Women. “We are excited to shine a light on three extremely talented designers to launch this program, creating exclusive products that will ultimately drive sales for each designer to grow and reinvest into her respective brand.”

This season’s “Behind Her Label” designers include:

Shana Sadeghi-Ray

Sadeghi-Ray is a Brooklyn-based, multidisciplinary artist. Her fine art background is reflected in her current graphic design work, featuring a range of sculptural to digital elements. Shana draws inspiration from fandom culture, dollar stores, and her love of basketball.

Amanda Litzinger

The New York City-based streetwear designer behind Stickybaby. Stickybaby is a vintage repurposed and made-to-order model clothing line emphasizing the importance of low impact production and sustainability in fashion.

Olivia Anthony

Anthony is the CEO and founder of LIVSTREETWEAR. This New York-based designer creates art through her collections and empowers women and dreamers to make a statement by just “LIVIN.” The Alabama native uses bright colors, unique textures, and bold silhouettes in her unprecedented line, LIVSTREETWEAR, which she started in college in 2012.

On an exclusive interview with HOLA! USA, Amanda Litzinger, shared her creative process, the importance of sustainability in fashion, and more.

©Foot Locker

HOLA! USA: When did you realize you wanted to be a streetwear designer?
Amanda Litzinger: I knew I wanted to be a fashion designer very early on in my life. My mom told me that I used to describe a specific dress that I wanted to wear, and she would say, “hmm, I‘m not sure where we will be able to find that?!” and she’d then sew it together for me. Eventually, she taught me to sew myself. Fashion is my way of expressing myself to the world.

Why is it so essential the sustainability in fashion?
Large scale fashion production, overconsumption, and waste are, unfortunately, contributing to global warming. I mean, for me, this is simply a terrifying reality, and so I do my part to avoid this impending doom... I always shop vintage and thrift and just cringe at wastefulness in general. It only means you‘re lazy if you can’t do the conscious thing.

Tell us about the inspiration behind your capsule collection?
My collection for Foot Locker was made for the basketball-obsessed girl who feels she might be slightly different from others in her community. The underdog. My signature design approach is large scale wording sewn onto vintage using unexpected materials. For this collection, the meaning behind the words directly represents my feelings on the need for global change regarding social injustices such as systematic racism, women‘s rights, and heaps of other issues present in our society.

Which colors, textures, and items we will be able to purchase?
Reds, fuzzy felts for fall, leather caps, and lace will be available for you to purchase.

Walk us through your creative process for this collection.
I start by sitting very still and quiet — just kidding but really — I have to just sit quietly or walk through the streets of New York or a museum-basically and let my mind wander until an idea comes to me. I like for the phrases I‘m incorporating into my clothing to have a ring to them or to maybe be something that you hear in passing and can’t seem to shake from your memory.

As a Latina, how are you representing and highlighting our culture within the streetwear industry?
I feel that growing up in a mixed household with a Mexican mother, grandmother, and relatives make me quite the same as anyone else. I chose my career young, studied all I could, and just jumped into it, fearful or not. I think my creations represent my experiences, I take opportunities to travel and explore as much as possible, and I daydream A LOT. So, if we should be underrepresented in fashion, I think it has less to do with us and more to do with that “hand that feeds.” And we shouldn‘t be limited to only creating designs about our heritage. I would say my overall drive in life does come from being Latina as we are extremely resilient and ambitious people. I’m humbled and grateful for my heritage, and I believe my ancestor’s legacy does exist inside me. So basically, I represent our culture by just trying to be as much my authentic self as possible.

Today we farewell Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month. Please send a positive message to our community.
Hispanic and Latinx people can do anything, and we should. Perseverance is key; please don‘t give up when it gets hard, and remember to thank your mother for the beauty and spirit that she passed down to you!