Dive Temporary:
- Arms-free footwear model Kizik has named longtime Nike veteran Andreas Harlow to the brand new place of senior vp of design, per an organization press launch.
- The previous vp and world footwear inventive director for Jordan Model, Harlow formally joined Kizik in September after leaving Nike in April. He spent over 22 years at Nike and Jordan in numerous inventive design roles.
- Harlow experiences to Gretchen Weimer, Kizik’s chief merchandising officer, in keeping with an organization spokesperson. In his new position, he’s tasked with growing new merchandise and pushing the boundaries of footwear design, per the discharge.
Dive Perception:
Nike and Kizik have a long-standing relationship. Kizik was launched in 2017 by Mike Pratt and Nike was an early investor within the enterprise. Kizik additionally licensed a few of its hands-free shoe applied sciences to Nike in 2019.
In including Harlow to its group, Kizik is trying to develop its choices. With its current success within the out of doors and boot classes, the model expects Harlow so as to add his inventive know-how to additional class enlargement.
“Andreas might be closely concerned in inventive selections because the model appears to develop into classes that we’ve not entered but,” Weimer stated in an electronic mail. “For instance, we all know our shopper is lively, and we intend to discover what that appears like sooner or later. Andreas has already put ahead some modern concepts that the group has began to judge.”
Harlow is one among plenty of former Nike executives who’ve jumped to new manufacturers lately because the footwear large faces its personal headwinds.
In February of this yr, operating way of life model Hoka named former Nike government Robin Inexperienced as its new president. Inexperienced spent 17 years at Nike the place she most just lately served as vp of Males’s Working and Health. Different former Nike leaders have jumped to new positions lately on the likes of The North Face, Crate and Barrel and Athleta.
Kizik additionally expanded its wholesale and retail presence in 2024. Because it continues to develop distribution with Nordstrom and Amazon, the model opened three of its personal shops this yr in Bloomington, Minnesota; King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; and Denver. New shops on Boston’s Newbury Avenue and at Quick Hills Mall in New Jersey are slated to open earlier than yr’s finish, per the corporate. A Kizik pop-up location additionally got here to New York Metropolis for a weekend within the spring.
Trying internationally, Kizik introduced an enlargement into Japan and Canada final month via partnerships with Marubeni Shopper Manufacturers and Kanner Company, respectively.
