LONDON — Dr. Martens is fortifying its global product team with two new hires: Isadora Versiani, who is joining from Marc Jacobs, and Nadia Svensson, whose previous job was at Adidas.
Versiani has been named global product design director, while Svensson is joining as global merchandising and product director from Adidas. Both will take up their new roles in November.
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The brand said both roles are new and “mark a significant investment in world-class merchandising and design talent” as Dr. Martens enters its next phase of growth.
Versiani and Svensson will report to Carla Murphy, chief brand officer, and will join the company’s leadership team, with the goal of “strengthening the connection between consumer, merchandising and design.”
Versiani has more than 17 years of global footwear design and product innovation experience at brands including Marc Jacobs and Tory Burch, where she held senior global product design roles.
She has also created footwear collections for Rihanna and Serena Williams, contributed to runway collections and collaborations with Converse and David Shrigley, and helped to scale Tory Burch‘s footwear business, contributing to that brand’s multimillion-dollar sales growth.
Svensson was formerly senior product director at Adidas in Shanghai, leading outdoor and sportswear category growth across Greater China and Asia-Pacific.
Nadia Svensson is joining Dr. Martens as global merchandising and product director.
Prior to Adidas, she led global product management at the outdoor footwear brand Kathmandu across New Zealand and Australia. She was also part of Zalando’s early growth phase in Europe.
The appointments follow Murphy’s arrival in July 2025 and dovetail with the brand’s efforts to evolve from a channel-led business toward a more consumer-first operating model.
Murphy said “Isadora and Nadia bring together a rare combination of creative vision, product expertise and international market experience. They have both built their careers at some of the world’s most influential footwear, fashion and performance brands, and I’m excited about what they will bring to the brand.”
Murphy added that both hires “will help us create products that feel unmistakably Dr. Martens, while making the brand increasingly relevant and desirable to more consumers in more markets. This is an exciting step forward as we enter our next phase of growth. As we move further into our consumer-first model, it is critical that we bring product design back to the center of the brand, with a sharper understanding of what consumers want and where we show up for them.”
In July, the company said wholesale performance in the U.S., the U.K. boot brand’s largest market, was “particularly encouraging.” The company added that its largest Asian markets, Japan and South Korea, are “both performing well” and European markets are in-line with expectations despite a “challenging consumer backdrop.”
“We are focused on our ambition to become the world’s most-desired premium footwear brand and are on track with our strategic objectives for fiscal year 2027,” the company said.
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