Maria, in your role as Chief Product Officer at PUMA, what are your main objectives for this year?
Building a common product vision and strategy with our business units, our Go-to-Market teams as well as our Innovation and Creative departments is one of the key priorities. A big part of that is that we build consistency in our product offer, commitment in our focus and that we bring our products to market with much more confidence. It’s important that we tell fewer stories, but ensure that these fewer stories have a bigger impact. We have identified four “must win” areas, on which we will focus on most. These are Classics, Sports Culture, our NITRO technology and our Women’s offer.
This year, we are celebrating PUMA’s 75th anniversary, but we are also looking ahead to 2024 – a year with many exciting sporting events – and 2025.
We have amazing new additions to our PUMA Family, such as Rihanna and Formula 1. This inspires us to work even harder to deliver the right products for them.
Without giving too much away, what are some of the things we can look forward to over the course of our 75th anniversary year?
There are some great stories through which we will celebrate our 75th anniversary, such as bringing back our iconic mascot Super PUMA and the new, k-leather free, iconic KING Football Boot. In terms of anniversaries, our Clyde sneaker also celebrates its 50th birthday which we will highlight with special new editions. But there is so much more. We will launch the third version of LaMelo Ball’s signature basketball shoe and we will present our first new collection with Rihanna since 2018. There is also so much happening in the world of sports, which we benefit from as a brand: Formula 1 will hold its first race in Las Vegas and we have two PUMA teams in the semifinals of the Champions League.
Where do you see sportswear trends for the coming seasons?
It is quite amazing to see how sports culture is influencing the industry. PUMA’s strong heritage and credibility in football and motorsports definitely make us stand out in this regard. So does our unique identity in basketball, which differentiates us from others and makes us catch the attention of our consumers. We also see new Olympics sports cascading in the fashion space, new influences of skate and breakdance bringing back oversized and new dimensions to our icons.
We also know that sustainability has become a must for consumers and we have to authentically include inclusivity and diversity in our offer and narrative. Here, we have made some significant steps ahead by making our entire product line-up more sustainable and by introducing promising sustainability projects such as RE:SUEDE, an experiment for a biodegradable shoe, or RE:FIBRE, a new way of recycling polyester clothing.
In 2022, PUMA was back at New York Fashion Week with its own show. Why did PUMA return to the Fashion World?
For our brand, it was very important to get broad visibility to highlight our products and innovation, as well as to celebrate our pinnacle offer: Select. New York is one of the most important fashion stages and for us this was the opportunity to present our product offer. We invited our collab partners and ambassadors to be part of the show. I think we really took the opportunity to showcase our product offer through the very distinct lenses of Fashion, Music and Sports Culture.
We have exciting new members in the PUMA Family. Five years after her last collaboration with PUMA, Rihanna is coming home. What can we expect to happen with this cultural icon?
We are very happy to have one of the most influential women on the planet back in our family. There are many exciting new things we are already working on with her. Our new collaboration with her will focus on Classics, Sports and Glam. As we write this new chapter with Rihanna, we will also have a specific focus on Kids collections.
Looking to the future, what excites you most about PUMA’s potential?
The potential of the PUMA brand is huge. We are one of the few multicategory sports brands. We have several products in our portfolio that have stood alongside the greatest athletes of their time for decades. For example, the PUMA KING, which was worn by football greats such as Pelé and Maradona. But we also have a strong line up of classic styles such as the SUEDE and the Clyde. We have a unique and strong DNA, our strength is our people, and we have the amazing opportunity to work with different ambassadors, athletes and federations all around the world to push sports and culture forwards.
