Adidas: trio formerly at Nike to set up studio in Brooklyn

By

Bruno Joly

Published
Sep 25, 2014

When compared with its American rival, the German is often seen as less fashion-oriented, slow in picking up on trends and not very convincing in terms of its women’s range.

In order to respond, Adidas has decided to kick its design department into a higher gear. The brand has poached three designers from Nike: Denis Dekovic, Marc Dolce and Mark Miner. Up until now, Dekovic has focused on soccer, Dolce on basketball and Miner, who had left Adidas in 2008 to join Nike, on footwear design.

Adidas, which named Paul Gaudio to the newly created position of Head of Global Design last week, is preparing to open Brooklyn Creative Studio in 2015. The studio will closely follow sports and street trends. Teams will work collaboratively and will “drive design direction for the brand." 

To carry out this mission, the trio will work closely with the design teams based in the company’s headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria as well as its American headquarters in Portland.

Adidas, which released a statement following Dekovik’s announcement on Twitter, also evoked it other studios in Shanghai, Sao Paulo and Tokyo. 

According to Sportswear International, artistic directors James Carnes, head of the Performance segment, and Dirk Schönberger, head of style, currently report to Paul Gaudio.