Foot Locker has invested $12.5 million in children’s apparel retailer Rockets of Awesome. The deal includes a strategic partnership through which Kids Foot Locker will create exclusive Rockets of Awesome shop-in-shop destinations and will sell Rockets of Awesome merchandise on its web site.
The investment is part of Rockets of Awesome’s latest $19.5 million funding round, which will provide the retailer with additional resources to build out an integrated omnichannel customer experience. The company plans to leverage Foot Locker’s expertise and resources to further bolster its growth.
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The exclusive partnership with Kids Foot Locker matches the advice offered by Rachel Blumenthal, Founder of Rockets of Awesome, during a panel at the 2018 Retail Innovation Conference. There, she noted that one of the keys to success is to not just to be better than the competition, but to differentiate by offering shoppers something they simply can’t get elsewhere.
The deal is the latest in a series of investments made by Foot Locker, including $100 million in funding for GOAT Group, which operates the online footwear marketplaces GOAT and Flight Club. Foot Locker and GOAT Group will combine efforts across digital and physical retail platforms over time, creating new access points for GOAT sellers and shoppers.
Foot Locker has also invested a combined $20 million in three other companies:
- Carbon38, a women’s luxury activewear brand;
- Super Heroic, a tactical play and lifestyle brand; and
- PENSOLE, a footwear design academy.
