Carsten Unbehaun, the German-born executive who became the chief executive of Haglöfs at the beginning of 2018, returned to the European subsidiary of the brand’s Japanese parent company, Asics Corp., as its new chief executive on Nov. 20. Unbehaun will continue to run Haglöfs until a successor is found.
Carsten Unbehaun has been with Asics since 2002, holding several management positions, including marketing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He had previously held senior roles at EON Hanse, the energy company, and at Talkine, a telecommunications firm. He was asked to run Haglöfs while serving as Asics EMEA’s managing director for Central Europe, based in Germany.
At Asics EMEA’s new headquarters in the Netherlands, Unbehaun is taking the place of Alistair Cameron, the British industry veteran who has run it for the past ten years. Under his management, Asics’ sales in the region more than doubled, reaching nearly €900 million and giving the Japanese brand a market share in the performance segment of the European running shoe market estimated at 29 percent. As reported in the last issue of SGI Europe, Asics EMEA is deploying new strategies to recover from a recent sales decline. At Asics EMEA, Unbehaun will be assisted from Jan. 1 by Masashi Abe, who is being sent over from the group’s head office in Japan to serve as executive vice president.
In response to a question from us earlier this week, Motoi Oyama, president of Asics, denied a rumor that Haglöfs is up for sale, adding that the group is still trying to improve revenues and profits at the Swedish outdoor company, which was taken over by Asics in 2010. In a press release, Asics EMEA said that Haglöfs had enjoyed sales growth since Unbehaun became CEO.
More information on Haglöfs in The Outdoor Industry Compass.
