From Jil Sander to Ottolinger: Puma’s creative director unveils what’s in store for its 75th anniversary year

Puma wants to return to the old days when the sporting goods company united the worlds of fashion and sports with Jil Sander, and share this heritage with a new generation of creatives. Meanwhile, the brand's young demographic is discovering the rusty hobbyhorse of motorsport as a new trend, and so the big cat from Germany is going full throttle in this area, too. In addition, there is a new venture with superstar Rihanna.

The company, which has access to a 75-year archive, is celebrating its anniversary year with a few surprises while, of course, not losing sight of next year's Olympic Games. Heiko Desens, Global Creative Director at Puma, explains what else Puma has in the pipeline for the coming period and what developments are currently keeping the sports and lifestyle industry busy.

Puma is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. What is in store for the anniversary year?

Earlier this year, we had our 'Archive Green' as a special colour, which we launched alongside a special product drop. In addition, as part of the 75th anniversary, we also brought our motorsports history to life.

We have something very glamorous planned for the end of the year - a limited edition to celebrate 75 years. It's an anniversary edition of a 'Classic Silhouette' that we'll also be dressing up a few of our assets with. It's going to be glittery, shiny, and very high-end and luxurious. We will be launching that around the date of our anniversary in the fall.

Will luxury replace the streetwear trend for you?

We've been very focused on streetwear, and this year we'll also be revisiting the high-fashion theme. In the broadest sense, we relate to what we stand for and are known for. We are, after all, originally Disruptor, which brought together precisely this sportswear and fashion theme.

Back then, with Jil Sander, we got the ball rolling and shook up the industry. This year, we want to refresh that part of our heritage in a very targeted way. The collaboration with Ottolinger, which we recently teased, is part of that.

So the bag with Ottolinger was only a teaser?

The designers of the brand [editor's note: Ottolinger is led by designers Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient] are a good fit for us and are exactly what we also want to define for ourselves. So the next chapter will come in September and will be clothing. However, we will also continue with the bag as well as the Mostro, which we have already shown, so that it becomes a whole look.

Will Puma be back at New York Fashion Week in September?

We will return to New York Fashion Week, but not until February of next year. We have a relatively prominent presence at Paris Fashion Week this year with Ottolinger and additional fashion partners. So we made a strategic decision not to add another venue.

You're also celebrating the return of Rihanna to the Puma family. Does this tie in with the previous collaboration?

The collaboration is in full swing and will come in the fall. But we won't be approaching the Rihanna concept the way we did in the past. There will be small, targeted drops and we'll start with footwear - targeted and recurring instead of the big show moments with catwalk. That's how we redefined it for us and that's also what Rihanna wants. To specifically link the styles to her and to continuously expand them.

And here, too, Puma will once again use footwear as a starting point?

Exactly, we'll start with footwear for the first few months - until the middle, end of next year - and then we'll add other product groups bit by bit.

And who are the products aimed at?

They are unisex products. We're not going to do women-specific products per se. It is of course the case that this balance will probably be two-thirds women, one-third men. But we definitely want to make sure it's open to men as well. There will be men who will definitely want to have that and that's where we also have to make sure that certain shoes are made available for men as well. That was already the case last time, that the Creeper was originally available in a full size set, but the emphasis was more on women.

Is the collaboration part of your 'must-win' strategy, where the women's range was highlighted as being one of the important lines?

Rihanna continues to be important to our women's category. She is the best figurehead for us - as an artist and businesswoman, she is extremely successful.

How else will the women’s range be expanded?

We have women-specific running and soccer shoes and the world's best female athletes under contract. Our female customers are very important to us, and that's not a fashion lifestyle cliché. In the running segment, our ratio is now 50 percent women. In all key strategic product groups, women are on par with men, and sometimes even more strongly represented than men

In July alone, Puma collaborated with Porsche, Ferrari and Mercedes. Is this how Puma intends to secure its pole position?

Motorsports was something no one really wanted at Puma. Fortunately, because of these 'late 90s, early 2000s' trends that are very dominant, especially for young people interested in fashion, the whole motorsports vibe is coming more to the fore again and we can take full advantage of it with our super large archive - which spans ten to 20 years.

This could already be seen at all the streetwear brands that presented their collections on the catwalks. But it's more of a synthesis of different motorsports that come together. It's not just motocross or Nascar, it's actually a blend of the look - a larger macro trend that picks up that colorfulness and vibrancy. This works extremely well for us.

So you're really going full throttle now?

Recently we had a Ferrari drop that was very successful, and with that you could already see how that look translates into the fashion world. We presented this small capsule collection in Miami. The next bigger event will be at the end of the year in Las Vegas, where the first 'Formula 1 Entertainment Show' will take place. There we will also be on site with specific mini collections and projects that we are launching on that date.

With silhouettes like the Mostro, you have already played on the theme in the fashion sector.

In the last decade, shoes have become bigger, thicker, and more voluminous. There were big running and platform shoes, and Balenciaga led the way. Now we're seeing a lot of young people picking up on this low-profile trend, which of course goes hand in hand with football culture, but is now becoming really extreme with motorsport-inspired shoes.

The Mostro, which we're working on right now, is a familiar shoe for those who happen to be old enough. But for the young, new fashion consumer, it's just a new, crazy, exciting shoe.

What trends do you expect to see in the lifestyle and sportswear segments?

For us, the high-tech segment is very important - that high-tech look, which is very futuristic. It covers the whole performance area, but it definitely crosses over into lifestyle or fashion. It has a connection to the early 2000s. There were a lot of tech clothes being worn during that time - that was sort of this spin-off of dance rave culture. Think a lot of tech materials, colours and shiny metallics.

In the Puma archive you also have some technical innovations such as the RS computer shoe or the DISC system. Have you found something there that could suit the high-tech trend?

Yes, we have a shoe that is being talked about by the fashion world and sneaker fans right now called the 'Kugelblitz' or Bullet Lightning. This was a crazy design experiment in the early 2000s. If you look at Givenchy's Running Shoe, it's almost a spitting image of the Bullet Lightning from our archives.

It always gets a lot of attention at the company, all the partners want to see it - such an unknown icon that looks so crazy. But will we bring it back? Probably not. Sometimes you have to let such iconic pieces rest and simply use them as inspiration.

Innovations play an important role, especially in sportswear. Can you give us some insight into what you're working on right now?

The Nitro performance technology is definitely our main focus next year, especially as the Olympics approach. So far, we've had communication mainly in the running and marathon area. For the Olympics, we have a lot of track and field performance shoes with nitro technology. After that, we will expand it into the other categories - we already have a successful performance shoe with Nitro technology in the basketball category.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.DE, and has been translated and edited into English by Veerle Versteeg.