In my discussion on Puma’s tactics I stated that they were going about acquiring players for the relaunch of their basketball line in the wrong way. I said that they had a better tactic they should be utilizing. I never said what that was. What I would have done was go and look for established athletes similar to how Q4 Sports has done with Langston Galloway, E’Twaun Moore and Darren Collison. Puma was obviously one step ahead as today they announced the signing of Rudy Gay. Which is a natural progression considering Rudy Gay is a RocNation athlete. Recently RocNation was promoting Gay’s new contract with Zappos:
RocNation Grabs Rudy Gay A Different Type of Sneaker Deal | via Nice Kicks
Just yesterday analyst and consultant Edward Bourelly stated on LinkedIn that there were inherent conflicts that could potentially cause issues for Puma and RocNation. There isn’t anyone currently discussing Gay’s deal he signed in October. Also being overlooked is the recent lawsuit by Nike regarding Puma’s knit and Jamming cushion system which I stated last year looked suspiciously similar to Nike Air:
The video of Rudy Gay playing in the new basketball sneaker from Puma is good. The shoe he is playing in is black with a white stripe. It looks stylish and is on trend, but no one in the sneaker industry is looking at the cushioning system which has the small beads imbedded in the insole and bears some similarity to the cushioning system that Nike is currently filing a lawsuit against Puma over.
While Puma is dominating the dialogue before the draft which is good, they have yet to establish any dialogue about the Hoops division on their platform or establish what exactly the movement will be about. I’m not saying there has to be a catchphrase, but the marketing here will have to exist beyond the draft and carry the story of the relaunch beyond Twitter and the sneaker sites. Below is the feed and pics of the shoe from Bleacher Report. The lacing system with medial to lateral lockdown is similar in design to the Netfit tech on their recent running releases and the shoe features the socklike fit of almost every shoe that is releasing.
I said that the brand should have remained retro and truly modernized the Suede and Clyde. They did that, but they also placed themselves into an awkward position that I stated was a problem for adidas.
Someone should have read my post about the fatigue associated with knit shoes that lack toebox design elements. It’s a problem that adidas is dealing with currently as their shoes with similar design structures are beginning to fall flat. As exciting as the news is from Puma I definitely see a lot of cracks which is only natural. I only hope they repair the walls and that there is a lot more under the surface than just hype. The sneaker market needs another player and with the addition of both Puma and Q4 Sports this is definitely something to watch.
First look at the Puma Clyde Court. The brand’s first basketball shoe in two decades. Features a knit construction and “1973” as a nod to the original Clyde pic.twitter.com/bEE07zVALC
— B/R Kicks (@brkicks) June 20, 2018
