From Passion To Massive Success: How Culture Kicks Is Revolutionizing Sneaker Culture

The future of sneaker culture is looking bright, especially for Alex Lotier and Chase Young of Culture Kicks. 

Culture Kicks, a dynamic global media and sneaker company, has carved a niche at the intersection of fashion, culture, media, and of course, sneakers! The company offers an exclusive range of its own branded sneakers and apparel, as well as a selection of limited-edition items, fashion, sneakers, and more. Culture Kicks has grown from a startup company to a global phenomenon in just a few short years with no end in sight, making them the go-to for fashion-forward consumers, collectors, and sneakerheads alike. 

Both Lotier and Young had time before attending Sneaker Con in the Bay Area in Santa Clara, CA to chat exclusively with The Blast about their company, upcoming collabs, and what the future holds for not only them, but also live social selling. 

Culture Kicks has grown from a small business to something that just keeps growing and growing with more than 1.7 million followers on TikTok and another 700k on Instagram.

In addition to their social media content pulling new fans and consumers in, their collabs with influential stars keeps fans coming back for more. 

Lotier and Young are cornering the market on social live selling, the retail revolution that’s reshaping how brands engage with consumers and sell their products. Think QVC and Gen-Z energy on the platforms where millions of consumers go for what they’re looking for - TikTok and Instagram.

The two co-founders just recently finished “12 Days of Christmas” on TikTok Shop before heading to Sneaker Con.

Lotier shared a little of Culture Kicks’ backstory with The Blast. Graduating from Syracuse University in Upstate New York, Lotier took corporate jobs right out of college, despite having a sneaker background.

“At the time, Chase was kind of just working full time for his job and then started a little page on the side selling sneakers out of his trunk, and he was looking for good byers in the area and good people to sell to,” Lotier told The Blast. “And I was running a store that he could come manage, but we didn’t actually meet until it was in an Applebee’s parking lot on Facebook Marketplace.” 

The two met during the pandemic and have been working together ever since, growing the brand and reaching more and more consumers. 

“It was March 2022 when we created the LLC, joined forces, starting popping up six-by-two tables around Philadelphia,” Lotier said. “We did a show outside a barber shop on a four-way where people were coming up on motorcycles, and sold 50 Jordans. Kept it moving until we eventually got a call from the [Philadelphia] Flyers. The Flyers let us be the first ever sneaker vendor within their own stadium.” 

In 2023, Lotier said they got their feet under them and “learned how to make money” selling more than 300,000 resale items. 

“And during that time, basically took all of the income that we made selling other people’s branded products and put it into our own sneaker line,” he said. “Basically poured all the funds in, didn’t even profit our second year in business to now profit in our third year in business, and basically being able to get into 2024 a fully booming media business.” 

According to Young, social live selling really helped the brand kickstart "when it comes to the revenue side of things."

"We started off, I believe in 2022, doing our first ever live sale on the app Whatnot," Young said. "Through that app, we realized how quickly and how scalable it was to be able to sell on a live selling platform versus if we were to do a brick-and-mortar route."

Thanks to live sales, the two were able to scale the business up to seven figures in less than a year. People get excited that Young is on live and "can't believe that the coin flip guy is selling his own merch on live and they can buy it right there."

"But also, just the way you're able to interact with the community and build a loyal fan base," he continued. "I feel like there's a lot of room to grow in 2025 as we keep scaling and it's great that we've had experience with it in the past and know it can absolutely get to that seven-figure range. It's just like, how do we couple the entertainment side with the live selling and also be able to scale and have new characters on the live selling so that people feel super comfortable with not just purchasing from me but purchasing from the next person we bring onto the team."

Over the weekend, Culture Kicks appeared at Sneaker Con in the Bay Area and shared all the action on their social media pages. They were even running livestreams from the floor with more than 10k live concurrent views on TikTok.

A few videos shared from the weekend at Sneaker Con quickly went viral with millions of views and tons of likes and comments.

When asked the typical age range for their fans, Lotier said data shows the most dominant age range is 25 to 35, with 35 to 45 coming in second.

Young added, "I had a 60-year-old father coming up to me saying how much he loved our content, and a 15-year-old in high school saying that he can't believe that he saw me in the mall. So the variety on the age range is crazy."

While Culture Kicks has done collaborations with many celebrities since starting out, one particular collab stands out.

Earlier this year, Lotier and Young got the chance to do a collab with the 45th President of the United States - Donald Trump. They shared their thoughts on the experience in an Instagram post.

"Launching this business 2 years ago out of a basement in Philadelphia, to meeting the 45th President in the same home city, words cannot describe the surreal feeling of this moment," the caption of a carousel of photos from Sneaker Con in Philadelphia reads.

"Having the privilege to release and sell the first ever Presidential sneaker is something us partners could have never imagined in our wildest dreams!  We cannot more strongly express how it would not have been possible without your support since the start. Anything you put your mind to is possible!"

Spoiler alert: Lotier and Young told The Blast that there might be another Trump collab in the near future, so stay tuned for more on that!

For more information about Culture Kicks, visit their website, Instagram, and TikTok pages.