9/15/78 Shares of Puma (PMMAY.PK) were up this week with the release of the much anticipated Liga sneaker. Puma’s first new offering in weeks, the Liga attempts to replicate the classic Adidas (ADDYY.PK) shape, while still offering the wide variety of color choices that has come to be synonymous with Puma. |
New partnerships with big name designers (Neil Barrett, Mihara Yasuhiro) have marked Puma’s foray into the world of higher fashion of late. But it’s the now classic Puma Speed Cat (estimated $70), which has unquestionably become Puma’s signature shoe.
Praised by many for its sleek, tubular design. Others say it looks like a tylenol capsule. One thing, however, is certain. You can get it in just about every combination of colors which can (and sometimes shouldn’t) be imagined.
Adidas, meanwhile, for reasons only they know, has persisted in offering just a handful of set color schemes for each of their shoe lines. While this may be an heroic demonstration of integrity, it’s murder on market share. And it was here that Puma saw its opportunity—to strike—back in 1992, when it unleashed the now-familiar choose-your-own color concept, a move which has since catapulted the German-based company to the forefront of the thin, white 18-35 demographic.
But the world revolves around me. So what do I think of all this? I, like the best of you, understand the need for a variety of color options in footwear. But, I must tell you the truth. I am only a man. And so being am subject to that pressure, which is felt and has always been felt by all men—from farm to pharaoh, fennel to flannel, rickshaw to Rolls, corn nuts to cashmere. In short, I worry about my sexuality. I do not mean my sexual preference. I mean how I appear to women, and men. And would it not be fair to say then, that on most days, the Puma Speed Cat occupies that spectrum from female to unisex? It would.
And this may be fine for European men, who are well known for their high level
of security with themselves-with their many accomplishments, their more lifelike
morality—and beyond all—their sexuality. But American men are—well, let’s just
say if you watch five minutes of any television show in America, you’ll
understand. Everybody may love Raymond, but Raymond— just ain’t ready for the
sleek and tubular. And I suppose, in a way, neither am I. Which is why I have,
very regrettably, had to stay away from Puma to this point.
But then just the other day, I thought I’d struck in-store gold when I sited a
Puma shoe, which was flat in sole, and looked just like an Adidas Samba. It was
called the Liga.1 And to a man, was my blood moving. A flat-soled shoe (which
would no doubt come) in any color I wanted? Could it be true? No need to pinch,
unless you want to. Now historically, or as long as I’ve been remembering these
things, I’ve been a sworn Adidas man. But in that great bond, which no man, or
beast, could ever tear apart, I have always felt there was sort of an
understanding, between us, that under certain extenuating, indeed very
extenuating circumstances, that this allegiance could be subject to minor
adjustments-just slightly. Entirely. Upgraded, sort of. I didn’t see why not? I
got the salesgirl.
But alas, when I put foot into suede-to my large disappointment—which could
ne’er be expressed, not by Euripides himself—not with a thousand choral voices
in support—this shoe—this shoe before me, this shoe into which I had already
invested perhaps a third of the day’s emotion-which could have gone into
something else-this ray of hope, and pig suede—is a complete piece of crap. A
first glance inside reveals a thin, flat piece of cardboard where an insole
might have been the better choice. One goes to lace it up, and one
pauses— where’s the tongue? Where’d it go? Oh, there it is-n’t. Look, the tongue
just stops, right about where the laces are tied, as if someone were playing a
prank? And it certainly can’t be a fashion concept
either, since anyone wearing this shoe will have boot-cut pants which cover most
if not all of the shoe as well as some of the sidewalk. In short, this is a shoe
that would be more appropriately glimpsed in a SALE bin at Walmart and, just as
soon as, flicked into the most unimportant areas of the subconscious, where it
could do—I really don’t care what—with the other such glimpses already there,
if they even still are.
But alas, when I put foot into suede—to my large disappointment—which could ne’er be expressed, not by Euripides himself—not with a thousand choral voices in support—this shoe—this shoe before me, this shoe into which I had, already, invested perhaps a third of the day’s emotion—which could have gone into something else—this ray of hope, and pig suede—is a complete piece of crap. A first glance inside reveals a thin, flat piece of cardboard where an insole might have been the better choice. One goes to lace it up, and one pauses—where’s the tongue? Where’d it go? Oh, there it is—n’t. Look, the tongue just stops, right about where the laces are tied, as if someone were playing a prank? Cause that ain’t right. And it certainly can’t be a fashion concept either, since anyone wearing this shoe will have boot-cut pants which cover most if not all of the shoe as well as some of the sidewalk. In short, this is a shoe that would be more appropriately glimpsed in a SALE bin at Walmart and, as soon as, flicked into the most unimportant areas of the subconscious, where it could do, I really don’t care what with the other such glimpses already there, if they even still are.
Okay, so it turns out the Liga has been around since 1978. Where was I? Who
cares. Wouldn’t have helped me then either. And so the search for a decent
flat-soled shoe that makes me look younger and cooler than I really am—I mean,
than I already am, if that’s even possible—oh, and not too feminine—and that comes in
the colors I don’t have already, goes on. Puma was founded in 1924 by Rudolf
Dassler (Brother of Adolf Dassler, founder of Adidas) in Herzogenaurach,
Germany. Mihara Yasuhiro is 26 years old.
1 I know because it definitely said ‘Liga’ right there on the side. I didn’t use my camera phone on it, but I totally could have.
11/30/06 Haagen-Dazs co-founder Rose Mattus dies at 90