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Puma is one of the most iconic and revolutionary sports brands in the world, so much so that its history is characterized by important innovations, especially in the footwear scene, and collaborations with some of the most important and strong athletes of all time.
The history of Puma
Puma is able to constantly spur sport and culture by creating products especially for the fastest athletes in the world and, for this reason, since 1948 the brand has shown itself to be credible and reliable thanks to its history and sporting tradition.
The first step in this long-lasting story was born in Herzogenaurach, Germany, by the brothers Rudolf and Adolf Dassler who founded the “Dassler Brothers’ Shoe Factory”. Their first adventure began in 1919 in their parents’ house, but within a few years their products had accumulated more and more fame so much so that most of the German athletes wore their spiked shoes at the 1928 Summer Olympic Games in Amsterdam.
Photo credit: Puma website
From this moment on, a long series of very important names of sportsmen of all kinds who have worn the shoes of the Dassler brothers begins, bringing the brand to the most prestigious podiums of international sports competitions such as Jesse Owens.
28 years after the founding of their company in 1948, the two brothers parted ways with Adolf Dassler founding his company that we know today as Adidas, while Rudolf created Puma initially under the name Ruda.
Photo credit: Puma website
Since the foundation of Puma, Rudolf Dassler’s brand has begun an innovation especially in the panorama of sports footwear, such as developing the world’s first shoe with screwed studs for footballers, up to the present day defining Puma as a brand that has managed to embrace sports of various kinds to the world of street style, continuously renewing itself and always looking for a revolution in the clothing and footwear scene.
The Puma mostro revolution
In 1999 Peter Schmidt designed a shoe model for Puma that had an impact and notoriety that is difficult to describe, we are talking about the Puma Mostro.
In those years Schmidt was already a very established designer, with a strong experience working closely with Jil Sander, but the design and conception of this shoe model comes especially from the influences of Puma in the 80s. In those years, designers experimented with alternative closures to replace laces, they designed ergonomic soles for greater stability and comfort, so Schmidt took up these projects to create a shoe that wanted to represent the obsession of those years with the future.
From all this, the Mostro are equipped with an asymmetrical Velcro closure, a very thin sole that keeps the foot almost in direct contact with the ground and the feeling they give when you wear them is somehow futuristic thanks to the external appearance of the shoe.
The silhouette so particular and revolutionary was seen as an element that would not have made the shoe attractive to the market, so the project is still completed despite the low sales forecasts but, once put on the market, it has reached impressive sales figures exceeding all possible expectations.
In a short time, the Puma Mostro literally conquered the whole world, becoming a shoe that could be seen continuously on someone’s feet, being a shoe that had conquered every gender and any social class.
The Mostro return, but they never left
At New York Fashion Week, with the fall/winter 2024 show, Puma celebrates its desire to have brought back to the catwalks the sneakers that revolutionized the concept of modernity and the future.
The brand, during its show called “Welcome to the amazing Mostro show“, presented its new collection focusing particularly on the return of the mostro; an icon of the Puma archive that is destined to be an incredible success once again. The shoe, also to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its birth, has been slightly reinterpreted from the original model, but its distinctive features such as the iconic notched sole and the hook-and-loop closure have remained unchanged to celebrate their success the first time they were put on the market.
The profile of these sneakers is still very versatile today, adapting perfectly to all types of athletes, since it is a model of light constitution. On the other hand, however, we are faced with a design line with a very bold and revolutionary aesthetic, so revolutionary that it has been able to adapt to any situation, even in everyday life, not stopping at their conception in the sports world.
The 2024 version of the Monster has some interesting news, especially at the level of the upper. This new version consists of a rigid mesh base that manages to maintain the shape of the shoe, the midsole is an extension of the sole that is also found on the upper giving the shoe in general a definitively original silhouette.
The success achieved in general by Puma and Mostro led the German brand to have the Mostro campaign directed and interpreted by the Creative Director of Puma x F1 A$AP Rocky, an internationally renowned American rapper who also has a great influence in the fashion world.
Alongside Rocky’s ideas were Alastair McKimm and Puma’s Global Creative Director Heiko Desens who worked on the creation of garments that could best enhance these iconic footwear to highlight the combination of sport and fashion that Puma has been able to create since that now distant 1999.
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