Ever since its 1998 foray into fashion with the minimalist queen Jil Sander, Puma saw early on how fashion with a capital “F” could influence another “f” word: footwear. In the hands of avant-garde designers, silhouettes like the Puma King, Clyde, or sleek H-Street became a canvas for rebellious ideas.
Long before his melted-sole interpretations of iconic sneakers had the high-fashion-meets-streetwear aesthetic in a chokehold, Japanese designer Mihara Yasuhiro had some impressive output with the German footwear company in the early 2000s, giving further credence to the crazier-looking shoes Puma was putting out itself through sub-lines like MOTION.