Eric Liedtke is Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of UNLESS, a 100% plant-based 0% plastic fashion brand with a regenerative creation model aimed at changing the way footwear, apparel, and accessories are designed, distributed, collected, and safely returned to the earth.

In 2019, Mr. Liedtke stepped away from his executive board position at adidas to pursue his passion for the fight against plastic waste full time. During his 26-year career with adidas, he guided all adidas brands and businesses, including adidas, adidas Originals, Reebok, and Yeezy, as well as all key brand functions. Mr. Liedtke re-energized the brand by unleashing a culture of collaboration and creativity, and his cultural and strategic leadership enabled adidas to break new ground in material and process innovation, sustainability, and streetwear.

To fight marine pollution, he initiated a partnership with Parley for the Oceans in 2014, committing to create 11 million pairs of shoes made of Parley ocean plastic in 2019, and drove the ambitious goal of eliminating virgin polyester from adidas products by 2024. Mr. Liedtke spearheaded products made from recycled ocean plastic, and in six years converted more than 50% of business from virgin plastics to recycled plastics. Under his direction, adidas introduced the Futurecraft 4D running shoe and championed Futurecraft Loop, the world’s first running shoe that was made to be remade.