Charles Johnson

My work with the World Shoe social enterprise.

Aalto University Aalto Creatives Demo Day Keynote Address

Aalto Creatives Demo Day Keynote Address

The Future of Shoes S8 E5: Humans have been covering our feet with shoes to protect from injury and disease for over 5000 years. Sportsmen have been harnessing shoe innovation to maximize performance since the 1800s. The global footwear industry today produces millions of SKUs every year tailored to the unique demands of every imaginable sport, demographic, and style preference. Once a highly valued handcraft, technology has increasingly taken over. And yet, nearly 12% of the world’s population remain “unshod”. This week’s guest is Charles Johnson who has spent nearly four decades in the footwear business- developing products for Puma, Converse, adidas, and others. He is now an academic at Carnegie Mellon University and social entrepreneur working to deliver change at scale.

In this interview, we delve into Charles’s career, his insights into design innovation, and his role as a jury member for the FIT Sport Design Awards.

Elected member

In this first episode of the Agents of Innovation podcast, host David Knies reconnects with long time friend and former adidas colleague, . During his 30+ year career, he has been a footwear designer and visionary creator with adidas, Hyde, Crocs, and, until very recently, the global head of innovation atPuma in Germany. Charles’ legacy is more than just designing highly commercial products for great brands, but the empathy that design can inspire. With the global pandemic and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, Charles is even more motivated to lead a new movement in what he terms “Humanistic Design” – using the power of Design to promote humanity in people, and improve the world we all live in.