Salomon Poaches Nike Exec Nick Parkinson for Global Brand Creative Director Role

Salomon has tapped a former Nike designer as its new global brand creative director.

The French outdoor brand has hired Nick Parkinson to the role and will collaborate with the executive board and product leadership team to “drive a compelling brand creative strategy across all consumer touchpoints, platforms, channels, and regions.”

Parkinson joins the company from Nike Inc., where he held several design roles over his 15-year tenure. His most recent role at the Swoosh was global senior creative director at Nike Running. He also held positions like creative director of Converse and global creative director of Jordan Brand. Before Nike, Parkinson was the brand designer at Ben Sherman in London from 2005 through 2010.

“Nick is a super inspired creative,” Scott Mellin, global chief brand officer at Salomon, said in a statement. “His global experience in the spaces we want to win was the proof in our hyper-focused selection process. Having interviewed some of the finest creative minds in the industry I am confident that Nick is the needed fuel to realize our objectives across the entire consumer journey.”

Parkinson added: “I come from a family of engineers and love problem-solving through design,” he said. “Salomon is at an inflection point where it can progress to the next level by building on its rich heritage of performance and athletes and translate that into the world of culture and sportstyle. I’m excited to help power that through amazing storytelling!”

This is the latest executive change at Salomon. In November, the brand promoted the then chief product officer Guillaume Meyzenq to the role of president and chief executive officer of Salomon. He assumed the top job on Jan. 1 and replaced Franco Fogliato, who stepped down from the role in April for personal reasons after about three years at the helm of the brand.

Salomon, which is owned by Amer Sports, help lead strong fourth quarter sales in fiscal 2024. In February, Amer Sports reported net income in Q4 2024 of $15 million, or 3 cents a share, reversing a loss of $93 million in the fourth quarter of the prior year, on a 23 percent gain in sales to $1.64 million. Adjusted net income was $236 million, or 47 cents a share.

By segment, technical apparel sales, which include its Arc’teryx and Peak Performance brands, rose 33 percent to $745 million, outdoor performance product — encompassing its Salomon, Atomic and Armada brands — rose 13 percent to $594 million, and ball and racquet sports revenue, led by Wilson, rose 22 percent to $56.2 percent.

On the company’s Q4 earnings call last month, Amer Sports CEO James Zheng told analysts that Salomon sneakers exceeded $1 billion in sales last year, but the figure is “still tiny” relative to the $180 billion global sneaker market.

“We believe Salomon sneakers have an authentic and unique market position with technical features designed for the long term, but also great for everyday use,” Zheng said. “Our unique style and technical attributes are resonating with consumers at a time when they are more receptive than ever to wearing new sneakers brands. Long term, we expect Salomon [sneakers] to grow double digits annually.”