When Lotto creative director Come Chantrel was growing up in Paris in the '80s, he fully embraced hip-hop's nascent style. Rocking Kangol hats and killer kicks, Chantrel assumed the look of urban New York so thoroughly that by the time he arrived stateside in the early '90s, he had enough cred to score an internship at Def Jam. "I had gone to the University of Paris to study law," recalls Chantrel, who now calls Hollywood home. "But I found it very tedious. When I arrived in New York, everything suddenly fell into place."

After Def Jam, Chantrel moved to Loud Records, where he found a niche as a marketing strategist. His legal background and enthusiasm for music made him the perfect combo-a hipster with a businessman's mind. In later marketing gigs with companies like Adidas, MTV, and Pony, Chantrel has stayed ahead of the curve. In 1997, he was one of the first to grasp the potential in non-athletic sneaker endorsements by convincing Nike to co-brand a black-and-gold Dunk with Wu-Tang Clan. "It made a little noise, but in retrospect it was influential as to where the market was going," explains Chantrel. "All the co-branding and limited-edition capsules reinforce what we did back then." This year, Chantrel wrote and produced a documentary on the continued fascination with sneaker culture, Just for Kicks, which will hit screens in 2006.

But don't confuse Chantrel with your average sneakerhead. The 38-year-old is a proponent of what he calls "organized danger," with thrill-seeking hobbies that include military jet flying, skydiving, surfing, and Thai boxing. "You can learn a lot about yourself when you can manage primal fear," he says. Lotto undoubtedly hopes that some of Chantrel's coolness will rub off on its Italian line of soccer-inspired streetwear. "We're not positioning it as a retro brand, we're giving them something wholly new. Think fast cars, beautiful women, and big money," says Chantrel. "What more could a man want?"