Whatever the challenges of Mel Peralta's job, he has an honest customer keeping him on track.
"Kids don't lie to you," Peralta said on the Glossy Podcast. "They'll let you know if they think your stuff is whack or your stuff is dope."
Peralta is head of the new Foot Locker-owned brand incubator known as Greenhouse, which partners with both established labels in the sneaker game -- like Fila and K-Swiss -- and up-and-comers who might create the youth market's next cult product. Accordingly, the retailer changed its mission statement last year, saying it aimed "to inspire and empower youth culture."
In Peralta's words, "Project Greenhouse is Foot Locker's incubator to find what's next." The company wants to do that by being involved with designs from square one. "Because we are a product creation hub -- and we're not just launching other people's things -- we have to be involved with every single project at the very beginning," Peralta said.
The incubator's products are mostly sold via its own app, but they've also been sold at Foot Locker events, at boutiques and, one time, at a restaurant in Paris.
Peralta talked about his longtime love for footwear, the passion of the sneakerhead community and the SpongeBob-branded shoe that's all the rage with kids.