Paul Dillinger
Paul Dillinger
Paul Dillinger is the head of global product innovation at Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.).
Following his passion for sustainability, Paul has been an integral partner with the company’s Social and Environmental Sustainability group to develop front-end methods for applied sustainability in the design process.
Paul led the design team that created the Dockers® Wellthread collection, a result of a fellowship with the Aspen Institute. He is the first fashion designer to earn a First Movers fellowship with the renowned organization.
Before joining LS&Co., Paul worked as a fashion designer and brand development specialist for 16 years at a variety of fashion houses in New York, including Calvin Klein and DKNY. He also helped launch American Eagle Outfitters’ brand, Martin + Osa.
Paul has also served as a designer-in-residence for the Rhode Island School of Design through a program sponsored by Levi Strauss & Co. Previously, he served as faculty and a Beaumont Fellow at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Paul is a board member of the Levi Strauss Foundation.
Born in Tacoma, Washington, Paul received his BFA in Fashion Design from Washington University in St. Louis. After graduation he moved to Milan as the first Fulbright Scholar in fashion design, researching the influence of emerging luxury markets on high fashion design directions and commercialization. Concurrent with this research, he earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Domus Academy in 1995.
