Anthony “T.J.” Bennett is the CEO of Sole Play, an Atlanta-based sneaker and cultural platform built at the intersection of sport, gaming, music, and community storytelling. His latest project is the adidas x Sole Play “Cheat Code” Predator Sala, launching June 13 through the adidas Business Track program, which supports BIPOC-serving retailers through mentorship and industry access.
What has the response been to the shoe and the watch party?
We recently had our last watch party, a FIFA watch party leading up to the World Cup here in Atlanta, and it was beyond amazing. The energy was through the roof. We had over 350 RSVPs. It’s a testament to not only soccer culture, but Atlanta culture as well. We’re a very diverse city, forward-thinking, forward moving, and to see all those people come together was great and amazing.
We had our shoe on display and everybody loved it. Great feedback. One of the things we wanted to do was just make sure it was authentic to soccer culture, to the community that we serve, which is in the fandom space, gaming, tech, anime, etc. The story behind it, the underdog story, and how you can overcome and achieve no matter what obstacles are in your way.
What does it mean to create with a brand like adidas?
Shout out to adidas for giving us this opportunity, and shout out to the Sole Play team. Of course I’m the face of it, driving this ship, but I have an amazing team around me. One of the biggest things we wanted to make sure with this shoe is just not make it a shoe. It was like, how can we transcend this shoe to represent a story that connects with so many? Whether you’re in the soccer space, gaming space, music space, fashion space, that underdog story is there.
adidas gave us the reins, and of course, adidas aligns with that vision and with that overall strategy. How can we turn product into an impactful statement that represents something more than just a physical shoe? Adidas has been a great partner in making that happen. They understand the vision, and they’ve given us all the support we can handle. I wouldn’t ask for a better partner.
What are the three things young designers need to study?
The biggest thing is the intentionality. The intentionality around the community you’re serving, and the story that you’re telling about the product that you’re creating. Once you have those three things aligned, everything else is easy, because you know, this community loves this particular colorway, or this story connects with this particular consumer.
The community, the intentionality, and the storytelling are the top three things you need to understand first. Once you get that aligned, the colors, the design, all of that will come into play. You want it to be authentic to the community that you’re serving. Once you have those three things aligned, everything else gives you that north star and that direction to go in.
What is the underdog story behind the shoe?
The overall story of the shoe is just how do you press play? When you think about press play, it’s taking that first step into action of any and everything that you want to do. There are going to be obstacles, hurdles that you have to overcome and go through. A lot of times people will stop after the first obstacle, maybe the second, maybe the third. The goal is to just keep pushing, keep moving forward.
Once you can accept your failures and your losses just as much as you accept your wins, that’s the journey. You learn so much when you fumble and stumble and have these obstacles, and it all is a recipe for success and growth. Whatever your goal is, understand you have to take steps, and it takes time to reach that goal. You’re going to have setbacks. It might take two steps back, but you continuously take three steps forward, and continuously grow and build towards that goal. The underdog story is the story of all successful people.
What do you say to yourself when you need to press play?
The slow times, the failures, the door being slammed in your face, that’s just a part of it. The fight and the thrill I get is knowing I can get back up the next day and continue to push and continue to fight. Knowing that what I’m doing and what my team is doing is bigger than just myself, bigger than just Sole Play. It’s like, how do we inspire an entire community of people that get overlooked every single day? A lot of times within our community, we get put in a box.
Shout out to hip-hop, shout out to sports, our culture thrives there in an amazing way. But outside of that, the things we’re into and interested in, whether it be gaming, anime, fandom culture, that gets overlooked. Continuously pushing forward and understanding that the failures are a part of the journey is the key.
What do young entrepreneurs need to know before working with a major brand?
Make sure you have the right people. When you approach an adidas, you have to have your ducks in a row. If you have questions you need to ask, or any doubts, just communicate. That’s the biggest thing, just make sure you have that communication piece among your team, and understanding that this is a huge moment.
Don’t just bring in whoever. Make sure you have the right people in place that can execute at a high level, people you trust. At the end of the day, you can’t do it alone. It takes that team effort, it takes people to show up in strength where you’re weak, to help execute that vision. The opportunity is bigger than yourself, bigger than the organization. We’re talking about a whole community of people that we’re trying to push forward.
How are you already pivoting toward 2027?
It’s always about the moment first, before you even think about conceptualizing a shoe. It’s the moment, the story, who we’re trying to impact, what story we’re trying to convey, and making sure the team understands that. I have people that are way smarter than me when it comes to design, but my job is to just challenge my team. It goes back to strengths and weaknesses. Understanding your strength is what success is, in my opinion.
I can’t do everything, my designer can’t do everything, so we all work and feed off of each other to create what success ultimately looks like. If you have one person that’s an extreme visionary, that’s very optimistic, bring somebody in that knows operations, that makes sense of the vision and the optimism you have. Make sure you have the right team. Have a vision. Be optimistic, and don’t be afraid of risk. In our community, we fear failure. We don’t accept failure as part of the road and journey to be successful.
How do you set goals and who is in your mastermind group?
Definitely my business partners and my leadership team. What we ultimately do is what we call a vivid vision. We plan three years out, we set that vision, that plan, and then we work back from that. We know there are going to be roadblocks and hiccups, but that’s all a part of the overall destination.
We try to work two to three years out, and then we work our plan back from there. We try to make the most important decisions without dragging it out too long. We know our goal, we know where we want to be three years from now. What key decisions do we need to make to ensure we’re on the trajectory to reach that three-year goal?
To keep up with Sole Play and stay connected to their latest collaborations, community events, and cultural programming, visit soleplayatl.com and follow them on social media. The shoe is available through adidas and Sole Play’s platforms.