Puma’s past and present – WWD

1948 – After separating from his brother and former business partner, Rudolf Dassler founded the “Puma Schuhfabrik Rudolf Dassler” with 14 employees.

1952 – Puma launches the Super Atom, the world’s first boot with screw-in studs, marking the beginning of its football history.

1954 – Heinz Fütterer breaks the 100-meter world record in Yokohama, Japan wearing Puma running shoes.

1958 – Puma patented its second brand logo, the FormStrip, originally designed to stabilize the foot in the shoe.

1968 – Puma introduces the Puma King football boot in honor of Portuguese striker and Ballon d’Or winner Eusébio.

1968 – Puma introduces the “No. 1 logo” featuring a puma cat jumping over the top right corner of the brand name.

1968 – The brand enters the sportswear market with the development of the T7 tracksuit.

1970 – Pelé is crowned Player of the Tournament while wearing Puma King boots at the World Cup.

1973 – The Puma Clyde sneaker is released after New York Knicks point guard Walt “Clyde” Frazier asked for a custom-made pair of basketball shoes. Frazier becomes Puma’s first professional basketball signature athlete.

1977 – Guillermo Vilas wins the French Open, US Open and Australian Open, establishing Puma’s place in the tennis world. Vilas helps Puma grow its tennis business along with Martina Navrátilová and Boris Becker.

1985 – Puma develops a new cushioning system: the Running System, now known as RS. This cushioning is used in the RS computer shoe, which is described as the world’s first computer shoe.

1986 – The company goes public on the Munich and Frankfurt stock exchanges and trades as Puma AG.

1991 – Puma introduces the DISC System, a laceless athletic shoe that uses a system of internal wires to streamline the upper.

1993 – Jochen Zeitz becomes the youngest CEO in German history to lead a publicly traded company when, at age 30, he is appointed CEO of Puma.

1998 – Puma collaborates with German design star Jil Sander to create a stylish sneaker that combines the brand’s King and Easy Rider models, opening up the sports lifestyle segment.

2001 – The Puma SpeedCat conquers the world of motorsport, especially Formula 1.

2007 – Kering acquires a controlling interest in Puma for €5.3 billion (approx. US$7 billion) as part of its entry into the athletics and lifestyle space.

2009 – Puma athlete Usain “Lightning” Bolt breaks his own 100-meter world record with a time of 9.58 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

2010 – Puma grows in its golf category with the acquisition of Cobra Golf.

2012 – Puma acquires its Dutch licensee Dobotex, which has been designing, developing, manufacturing and distributing Puma socks, fanwear, swimwear and bodywear since 1997.

2015 – Puma appoints Rihanna as creative director and ambassador for women and launches the collaborative Puma Creeper sneaker.

2018 – Kering returns 70 percent of the 86 percent of the shares it owns to existing investors. Kering will retain around 16 percent of the outstanding shares.

2018 – After almost 20 years, the company reintroduces the basketball category to its portfolio. Jay-Z was tapped as creative director for this category.

2019 – Activists led a boycott of Puma over its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association, which includes six football teams based in Israel’s West Bank settlements.

2020 – The Puma Storm Adrenaline sneaker became a trending topic on social media due to its design reminiscent of Adolf Hitler’s signature mustache and parted hair.

2020 – Kering sells a 5.9 percent stake in Puma for around 656 million euros or US$772 million. The sale reduces Kering’s stake in the company from 15.7 percent to 9.8 percent.

2021 – Kering sells an additional 8.9 million shares of Puma, representing a 5.9 percent stake. With this sale, Kering now owns 4 percent of Puma.

2022 – Puma wins the FNAA’s Sustainability Leadership Award for progress in executing its “Forever Better” strategy.

2023 – Rihanna and her Fenty line announce she will be returning to Puma, launching the brand in the fall.