Adidas has poached three top Nike footwear designers as part of its plan to open a Brooklyn Creative Studio in New York City. In a statement issued by Adidas America, the company said the studio, expected to open in 2015, “will drive design direction for the brand and elevate the company’s direct interaction with consumers.”
The three designers hired away from Nike include the brand’s football design director, Denis Dekovic, whose credits include developing the Mercurial Vapor IX, the Hypervenom, the Superfly IV and the Magista; Marc Dolce, NSW design director, who was responsible for last year’s Lunar Force 1, a limited edition of the Air Force 1; and Mark Miner, senior footwear designer, who’s credited with key design contributions to the Nike Free Run+.
“The Brooklyn Creative Studio will be a small but essential operation aimed at exploring design direction for the brand. This facility will be an open source creative center allowing us to connect and collaborate with consumers in a way we’ve never done before,” says Paul Gaudio, Adidas global creative director. Maria Culp, a spokewoman for Adidas America, said the opening of an Adidas studio in Brooklyn, NY, would not diminish the importance of design functions in Portland, OR. “The Brooklyn studio will be a great addition to the already talented creative team members we have in Portland, Germany and across the brand,” she said.
