Dive Brief:
- Hands-free footwear brand Kizik has named longtime Nike veteran Andreas Harlow to the new position of senior vice president of design, per a company press release.
- The former vice president and global footwear creative director for Jordan Brand, Harlow officially joined Kizik in September after leaving Nike in April. He spent over 22 years at Nike and Jordan in various creative design roles.
- Harlow reports to Gretchen Weimer, Kizik's chief merchandising officer, according to a company spokesperson. In his new role, he is tasked with developing new products and pushing the boundaries of footwear design, per the release.
Dive Insight:
Nike and Kizik have a long-standing relationship. Kizik was launched in 2017 by Mike Pratt and Nike was an early investor in the business. Kizik also licensed some of its hands-free shoe technologies to Nike in 2019.
In adding Harlow to its team, Kizik is looking to expand its offerings. With its recent success in the outdoor and boot categories, the brand expects Harlow to add his creative know-how to further category expansion.
“Andreas will be heavily involved in creative decisions as the brand looks to expand into categories that we have not entered yet,” Weimer said in an email. “For example, we know our consumer is active, and we intend to explore what that looks like in the future. Andreas has already put forward some innovative ideas that the team has started to evaluate.”
Harlow is one of a number of former Nike executives who have jumped to new brands in recent years as the footwear giant faces its own headwinds.
In February of this year, running lifestyle brand Hoka named former Nike executive Robin Green as its new president. Green spent 17 years at Nike where she most recently served as vice president of Men’s Running and Fitness. Other former Nike leaders have jumped to new positions in recent years at the likes of The North Face, Crate and Barrel and Athleta.
Kizik also expanded its wholesale and retail presence in 2024. As it continues to grow distribution with Nordstrom and Amazon, the brand opened three of its own stores this year in Bloomington, Minnesota; King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; and Denver. New stores on Boston’s Newbury Street and at Short Hills Mall in New Jersey are slated to open before year’s end, per the company. A Kizik pop-up location also came to New York City for a weekend in the spring.
Looking internationally, Kizik announced an expansion into Japan and Canada last month through partnerships with Marubeni Consumer Brands and Kanner Corporation, respectively.
