Adidas' new CEO came out swinging during his first press conference, calling out Nike's lack of innovation and defending the three stripes

• New Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden on Wednesday hosted his first call with reporters.
• Gulden leaned into the company's history and hinted at a shift in the company's direct-sales focus.

Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden participated in his first earnings calls with analysts and journalists on Wednesday.

Gulden touched on a wide range of topics, such as a renewed focus on wholesale, the company's Yeezy inventory dilemma, and the pending release of the company's much-anticipated Fear of God line with Jerry Lorenzo. He also took some candid shots at Nike.

Gulden arrived at Adidas in January after nine years at Puma, where he led a widely recognized sales comeback. Gulden's hoping to play that tune again at Adidas, even daring to say he thinks Adidas could chase down Nike and become No. 1 again.

Here are six highlights from Gulden's first interaction with analysts and reporters as Adidas' top executive.

• DTC is going to decelerate.

For years, industry giants Nike and Adidas have been focused on direct sales. In 2021, Adidas said it wanted 50% of revenue from direct sales by 2025. On Wednesday, Gulden signaled a shift away from the DTC obsession of recent years, a view increasingly shared by Nike analysts.

"I still believe this is a wholesale-driven business," he said. "We need to show up at wholesale as the best partner for the retailers so they can make money from us. You cannot own the consumer. You can only earn the consumer."

• He stood up for Adidas' performance innovation pipeline while taking a shot at Nike

Adidas is always compared to its larger rival Nike. But Gulden took issue with criticisms that Adidas is not innovating enough in its performance business. He highlighted Adidas' new Adizero running shoes and "Predator" soccer cleats.

"The criticism that Adidas hasn't brought innovation in performance is not true. Again, I always ask, so what was the last innovation that Nike brought because you're always comparing it to that," he said. I look at the Adizero, I look at the Predator or I look at the soccer shoes that I know, but you don't know about, I do think that the Performance side is actually in good hands."

• The Yeezy business is not coming back

Adidas has not made a decision on what to do with its stockpile of Yeezys. The company has multiple options on what to do with the inventory, but none are particularly favorable.

One option seemingly not on the table is working with Ye again. Despite rumors swirling online in recent weeks about a new Yeezy deal in the works to salvage remaining inventory, Gulden said the business is pretty much lost.

"You have the Yeezy business, which again, in my opinion, Ye is maybe the most creative, I would say, person that has ever been in our industry. The combination with an excellent go-to market job by Adidas in the product, in the manufacturing, and not least the way they went to market digitally with the different applications, and the way they were actually utilizing the heat, in my opinion, was next to nothing. And of course, losing that is a very tough thing. But anyway, we have lost it and we have to deal with that."

• Get ready for Jerry Lorenzo, finally.

In December 2020, Adidas announced a long-term deal with the fashion label Fear of God and owner and founder Jerry Lorenzo focused on performance basketball and lifestyle products. Given Lorenzo's popularity, the underperformance of the Ivy Park line, and the end of Adidas' Yeezy business, Lorenzo could give the company a needed spark. On Wednesday, Gulden said basketball is critical to the brand's US business.

"I would mention Fear of God with Jerry Lorenzo, as probably a game-changing thing, which we are close to go-to-market with," he said.

• There's serious momentum in Sambas, Gazelles, and Spezial sneakers

Adidas' billion-dollar Yeezy business may be gone, but classic silhouettes like the Adidas Samba and Gazelle are skyrocketing in popularity around the globe. The sportswear giant this week launched a very successful pop-up store in Shanghai dedicated specifically to the Samba.

"Look for the Samba, look for the Gazelle, and ironically also the Spezial, which was actually a handball shoe that even I used when I was playing, which probably tells you how old I'm getting. I think it's something that if we manage it correctly, can be millions and millions of pairs. And it's the first test to see if we can manage, now, a new franchise in the right way by keeping it alive, heating it up every quarter, without over distributing it, so we start to discount."

• The Adidas birthright?

When Phil Knight founded what became Nike in 1964, Adidas was the industry goliath. Before long, Nike zoomed past Adidas. Although it was briefly dethroned by Reebok, Nike's been the industry leader ever since. It's now nearly double the size of Adidas.

Gulden took the stage Wednesday in front of a backdrop that featured Jesse Owens and Muhammad Ali, two sports icons and former Adidas athletes. Both harkened back to Adidas' days at the top. While Adidas is struggling, Gulden wants to get Adidas back there, noting it's got all the ingredients, including history, an archive filled with classic products, global distribution, decades of institutional knowledge, and technology.

"We will again be the best sports brand," Gulden said. "There is no doubt that that is our destiny and that is how you need to judge us. We have all the ingredients, and I'm convinced that we will make it."