Amer Sports Taps Heikki Salonen as Salomon’s New Creative Lead

Salomon adds talent from Maison Margiela. After several weeks of rumors, the Amer Sports-owned mountain sports company has named Finnish designer Heikki Salonen as its first creative director. Salonen assumes the position after more than 12 years at the helm of creative direction at MM6 Maison Margiela, with whom Salomon has an ongoing partnership that began in 2022 and spans footwear, apparel and accessories.

Salonen, whose career spanning more than three decades has included Diesel and MM6 Maison Margiela, will assume responsibility for both overseeing product design and creative direction for the brand across all product ranges, the company posted on LinkedIn.

The creative will team up with newly appointed studio director Laura Herbst, who has already worked with Salonen for more than a decade in his career at MM6, Céline and Maison Margiela.

Amer Sports raised its forecast to 30% growth by the third quarter of 2025 thanks to a boost from Salomon and Arc’teryx.

Salomon is in the midst of an internal reorganization plan that activated a leadership changeover in mid-December. Scott Mellin, the company’s global brand manager, announced that he will leave his position on April 1. The announcement of his departure came a few days after market sources pointed to a possible reinforcement of the creative leadership of the French outdoor brand by Salonen.

The company also reinforced its presence in Paris with the inauguration of a new office and showroom in the 10th arrondissement of the French capital, a multi-storey space that serves as a creative and strategic center for the company.

Amer Sports announced in September its revenue growth forecasts for the third quarter, placing them between 20% and 30% thanks to the boost from Salomon and Arc’teryx, while previous forecasts pointed to a 20% rise. In August, the company, which also owns Wilson and Atomic, already indicated that it expected to post a record year, boosting both its sales and net income, which multiplied in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period last year.In the first half of 2024, it earned $5.1 million, while in the last fiscal year it stood at $160.5 million.

Although the group does not break down its turnover by each of the brands in its portfolio, it did post its highest growth of 29% in the outdoor segment in the first half of the year, with Salomon leading the way with sales of 916.1 million dollars.