Puma and PPR, a perfect fit

The big sport brands are increasingly taking on the stripes of the fashion world in response to public demand. Puma epitomizes this new trend.

The Puma brand is tailor-made for PPR. Very entrepreneurial, it made its mark among the most high profile leaders in the sport lifestyle market. With its expanding international name, its worldwide network and its creativity in close touch with changing consumer tastes, Puma is perfectly in tune with PPR and its values, and offers great potential for mutual exchange.

 

Sport and fashion are currently going through a honeymoon period. The fashion market is increasingly influenced by ideas borrowed from the world of sport, which is a source of technical and comfort materials. Sport brands are entering an increasingly feminine world and openly look to the fashion world for new styles, cuts and colours. One need look no further than the numerous collaborations between creators and equipment makers. Next winter, ski resort terraces should expect to see people taking the sun in Thierry Mugler anoraks. The designer has just created an entire line for Lafuma, following a trend already set by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Emilio Pucci for Rossignol or Nicolas Ghesquière for Moncler. At a time when women's sport collections were limited to smaller versions of the men's wardrobe, Stella McCartney's collection for Adidas caused quite a stir. Figure hugging cuts, taupe, off-white or faded pink colours, brought runaway success and a contract renewed till 2010!

 

Puma is a pioneer in this field. The brand has been collaborating with designers since the end of the 90's. Of the three major sports equipment brands (with Nike and Adidas), Puma is without doubt the one which has added most fashion to its marketing mix. No less than five sport fashion collections are at this moment on show in Puma's shops: 96Hours with Neil Barrett, Alexander VanSlobbe's shoes, the Yasuhiro Mihara collection, Philippe Starck's collection, as well as Alexander McQueen. “Our collaboration with Alexander McQueen will bring his work to a wide public and associate Puma with one of the most innovative creators to bring the marriage of sport and fashion to a new level” exulted Jochen Zeitz, Puma's CEO. What with expertise in multichannel distribution, design know-how, creativity, product development, marketing and brand management, PPR and Puma will be able to benefit more and more from mutual inputs to help the brand reach its objective: to establish itself as one of the world's emblematic brands and help PPR write a new chapter in its “adventure of enterprise”.