Diadora, the Italian footwear brand founded in 1948, is majority-owned by the family behind Geox through their investment fund. It manufactures football boots and athletic shoes, as well as a variety of other sports apparel and gear.
We were “created for sports legends of the past, but we keep reinventing ourselves for contemporary style,” says Bryan Poerner, President & CEO, Diadora USA. That juxtaposition – “old school craftsmanship” and “modern design” – defines Diadora, according to Poerner.
So much of what Poerner and the company say about itself bridges that gap:
“A legacy, rewritten.”
“Future nostalgia.”
“Precision Italian biomechanics; classic heritage.”
Even Poerner himself embodies that central contrast: a punk rock CEO, a runner and a musician, a rebel, and a successful business leader.
Don’t Discount Diadora
Diadora welcomed Poerner in 2016, drawing him away from Puma, where he’d spent the previous 14 years. Since that time, Poerner has been dedicated to maintaining the premium pricing of Diadora’s top-tier running products within their US direct-to-consumer channel. If you want Diadora shoes, you won’t find them at Walmart, Target, or DSW: The running shoes are available exclusively at specialty run retail shops that cater to athletes and serious runners. “Our products are intentionally never discounted,” says Poerner.
That premium model in itself “is not a challenge,” Poerner insists. “But the trickiest thing is the model I’m talking about doesn’t exist in sport, right? It exists in cars, it exists in luxury. It even exists in the coffee shop. But it doesn’t exist in what we do.”
Yet, says Poerner, “there are a lot of brands that have said, ‘Hey, we’re going to be this special.’ And then as soon as they get that [first big PO] from X retailer, they do something different.” Or, rather, they do the same as almost every other running shoe brand does.
“I can say that in the years we’ve been on this path, on this mission to build this new model, we’ve been super-sincere. So, the hardest thing is to try to show our retail partners why this one is for real.”
Not to say that specialty-run retail can’t be profitable. Year over year, the average selling price increased 3%, from $132.54 to $136.58 in 2024, with total dollar sales growth up 7%.
“Diadora Culture”
Poerner’s vision reflects his interest – and former career – in music. The best stuff is pure. Rare. And reflects a certain style. Anything else is selling out. In the same way he did as a punk and post-punk rocker, “I just think about trying to build the best stuff.” The aim, he says, is “a beautiful, made-in-Italy, high-mileage, high-cushion running shoe. You know, and that sort of journey is respected.”
Poerner measures that respect from the industry and loyal fans. Adherents include elite athletes, soccer aficionados, and regular runners. Also, fashion-forward celebrities: Penélope Cruz has represented parent company Geox since 2023. And Poerner’s old friend, Walter Schreifels of US post-hardcore band, Quicksand, sometimes winds up becoming an accidental ambassador: “He’s been wearing our V7000 for the last couple of years on tour. “Diadora is becoming part of culture.”
The brand defines its culture by its people, of course, as adventurous, disciplined, and especially thrilled by the heyday of World Cup soccer stars like Diego Maradona. Maybe the best example of that culture is a recent collaboration with Amsterdam-based label Lack of Guidance (f. 2016), which, like Diadora, has developed a die-hard fandom through its dedication to lovers of football and fashion.
The Lack of Guidance collab resulted in the Mythos 280 running shoe, which, according to Poerner, “honors the golden era of Italian football,” during which Diadora played a pivotal role.
In modern European football, most teams and players tend to favor a minimalist, monochrome kit for their feet, perhaps only subtly iridescent—if you look really closely. But, maybe you remember the brash, vibrant era that preceded ours in European football, Poerner asks, where clashing patterns and fierce colors ruled the field? The Mythos line is a retro-maximalist ode to those days.
That’s Diadora Culture, says Poerner.
Sustainability Can be Badass
At Diadora’s solar-powered HQ in Caerano di San Marco, Italy, the team includes specialists at its in-house laboratory. There, the company produces products such as its flagship Atomo Star model, a lightweight, uber-responsive “Super Trainer” with superior cushioning. “It represents the purest expression of Diadora’s approach to serving athletes through product innovation,” says Poerner. “Put the world’s best footwear craftsmen together with the world’s best designers, biomechanical engineers, and materials scientists to develop the most elevated-performance running footwear possible. The Made-in-Italy team is constantly innovating, testing, and prototyping new products and processes that make life better for runners—and the world where they run.
From that legendary lab to the US offices in Philadelphia, “This is the thing I’m most proud of: That the company is made up of people who really care. And, number two, I’m proud of the types of materials that we’ve come out with in the last bunch of years. I’m proud to be in an industry that’s trying to make more sustainable versions of these products we love, performance footwear. Trying to get the process better, trying to get the materials right.”
And not only because of regulations. “There are sustainability efforts you have to make, how you govern your product, how you govern its end of life. And the EU is ahead of the US on this,” Poerner says. “But what I will say is that globally, as a company, we are totally aligned on the way we move forward. So even if we have these, let’s call them pressures or political things that are going on that are challenging, the company in general doesn’t have to react to those pressures because we share a belief system, whether in the EU or the, US, for how we have to act as a company. We have a belief system that is super progressive.”
“You know,” Poerner ponders, “someday I hope there’s a shoe that you can put in your compost when you’re done and it becomes part of your garden. Diadora’s a small piece of this process, but we’re always adapting and trying to evolve the makeup of Diadora shoes, so we can keep pushing the journey because the more you support that, the more it will become part of the norm.”