Paul Gaudio: The Man Behind Adidas’s Robust Turnaround

Ali Dassler, a passionate and visionary man, pioneered the establishment of popular sportswear Adidas in 1949. Since then, there has been no going back.

A statistical report showed that Adidas made a revenue of $19 billion in 2015 by selling its brand shoes. Popularly associated with the company are the 1969 ‘superstar,’ the 1950 ‘Samba’ and the 1973 ‘Stan Smith,’ which have remained evergreen.

The company has since grown in leaps and bounds, and one person who was very instrumental to this in the past few years was Paul Gaudio.

While he was the creative director, Gaudio oversaw 650 different designers ranging from Instagram posts to clothing and shoes. The influence and impact he had on the success of Adidas before stepping down in 2020 cannot be overemphasized.

With over two decades of experience at Adidas, Gaudio devoted his time to revamping and advancing the company’s motives, objectives, and general course.

Adidas was plagued by a lack of oneness in creative leadership for over a decade before the appointment of Gaudio. After he took over the reins of leadership as the global creative director, Adidas took a complete turnaround in terms of fortunes as the company’s identity was enhanced and took a positive advancement.

Gaudio immediately overhauled the company’s organizational structure by putting in place a committed team of designers in different core sectors within the organization. These core sectors include football (American), basketball, training, and running.