Salomon Names Heikki Salonen First Creative Director

Summary

• Salomon has appointed Finnish designer Heikki Salonen as its first-ever creative director, signalling a decisive shift from pure performance to a culture-driven mountain sports lifestyle vision
• Salonen will lead soft goods across apparel and footwear with studio director Laura Herbst, aiming to unify product design and brand storytelling for a more coherent global presence
• The move lands as Salomon reshapes its leadership and doubles down on fashion-facing projects, from a Paris creative hub to an elevated sportstyle push ahead of the 2026 Winter Games

Salomon is crystallising its fashion-era moment by naming Heikki Salonen its inaugural creative director, a power move that formalises the energy already bubbling through its collaborations and sportstyle runs. The Finnish designer arrives off a 12-year stretch steering MM6 Maison Margiela, where he helped turn Salomon’s technical DNA into cult product on city pavements. Now based at the brand’s Annecy HQ, he takes control of the entire soft goods universe, aligning apparel, footwear and accessories around a single, confident point of view.

Salonen is joined by long-time collaborator Laura Herbst as studio director, reuniting a pairing forged at MM6 and Céline to build a tighter, more experimental design engine inside the French mountain specialist. Salomon’s own positioning is evolving from functional outdoor label to modern mountain sports lifestyle brand, with fashion-minded consumers already primed through Paris showrooms, street-approved sneaker lines and a growing global retail footprint.

Culturally, the hire lands at a moment when performance brands are racing to lock in credible fashion voices, and Salomon is making its play with a creative who understands both subcultural heat and product rigour. With global brand chief Scott Mellin exiting and Amer Sports leaning on Salomon’s breakout growth, Salonen’s remit is to dissolve hard lines between categories, keep collaborations sharp and push apparel to stand alongside the footwear that has defined the label’s rise. The brand’s next chapter is about treating mountains, cities and runways as one continuous landscape, and letting design lead the climb.