Charles Johnson
Available

Charles Johnson

Design & Innovation Leader, Former Global Director of Innovation PumaNuremberg, Germany
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Charles Johnson
Available

Charles Johnson

Design & Innovation Leader, Former Global Director of Innovation PumaNuremberg, Germany
About me
Four nearly three decades I have worked within the context of sports, fashion and active lifestyle products for leading global brands. With a design degree from Carnegie Mellon, my professional starting point as a product designer specializing in footwear has transformed to executive level leadership shaping vision, teams and global strategies for some of the world's most important brands.
Projects
  • Olympic Innovation - The science, emotion and design of fast.
    Olympic Innovation - The science, emotion and design of fast.In 2017 Puma Innovation took on the task to do what we could to make national teams and athletes such as Thompson-Herah, Andre De Grasse and Karsten Warholm simply faster. Track spikes was one way but we decided also to focus on the all-important sprint suit. From our leadership position in motorsports, we were drawn to explore what we could do to improve aerodynamics, the science of which can be counter-intuitive. The performance theory for our suit was based on addition rather than subtraction
  • Puma Xetic Programmed Cushioning
    Puma Xetic Programmed CushioningXetic technology began with the exploration of metamaterials and the use of auxetic patterning as a means for bringing cushioning to running shoes. The name Xetic, pronounced ze-tik, is derived from the word auxetic, a structure that has a negative Poisson ratio forcing it to deform in a prescribed manner when stretched.
  • Driven By Charles Website
    Driven By Charles WebsiteThe website that chronicles my career accomplishments in design, sport technology and innovation. www.drivenbycharles.com
  • Black Fives Apparel Brand
    Black Fives Apparel BrandLearn how a series of inspiring moments and the right circumstances led to the creation of Black Fives, the first ever black heritage inspired basketball brand.
  • Pause Fest 2021 Presentation - Aspirations of a Humanistic Designer
    Pause Fest 2021 Presentation - Aspirations of a Humanistic DesignerAs a guest speaker at Pause Fest 2021 I speak about my transformation toward designing for humanity. I cover aspects of my professional journey alongside current events which have lead me to a re-energized design ethos.
  • Puma Esport Pro Kit
    Puma Esport Pro KitThe methodology behind Puma’s Professional Esport Kit. Kinetic garment construction developed by Atacac references body movement and how the skin is draped over the body to define the pattern of a garment. The resulting product architecture is the secret ingredient behind apparel that amounts to minimal distraction allowing gamers to focus on their game.
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Work history
    Puma logo
    Puma logo
    Global Director of InnovationPuma
     - Herzogenaurach, GermanyFull Time
    Led a team of researchers, designers, material engineers and a host of industry specialists to create new performance enhancing technologies for athletes. Launched over 30 product innovations and patented technology platforms for running, football, motorsport and gaming footwear, apparel and accessories.
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    Global Creative DirectorCrocs
     - Boulder, United StatesFull Time
    As part of a brand reset initiative, charged to deliver creative direction to the design of all products as well as the look and feel (communications) of the Crocs brand. Directed a global network of both internal and external design studios toward a unified and global product impression.
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