Puma Faucets Salehe Bembury to Design Its Basketball Sneakers

Over the previous decade, Salehe Bembury has developed a popularity as one of the vital important names in footwear. His trend-defining work with Yeezy and Versace modified the face of contemporary sneakers, and his collaborations with far-ranging manufacturers like New Stability, Crocs, and Moncler are among the many most reliably hyped on this planet. Esteemed and standard—the rarest of combos—Bembury has been residing as much as his picture because the sneakerhead’s sneaker designer. Sneaker collectors are at all times looking out for what he’s as much as subsequent.

Now, Bembury is taking his skills to the world of basketball, because the 38-year-old New York native joins the worldwide sports activities model Puma. The model has introduced at this time that Bembury will likely be coming aboard its Hoops division, not solely designing the model’s subsequent signature basketball sneaker but in addition serving to to recruit its subsequent signature athlete. “Salehe has had unmatched success of bringing to life the intersection of sport, tradition and vogue by product design and storytelling,” mentioned Max Staiger, international head of basketball for Puma. Collectively, the brand new partnership “will deliver game-changing newness and pleasure to basketball athletes.”

“My designs are a platform for storytelling and cultivating group; a possibility to breathe new which means right into a product,” Bembury mentioned in a press release. “Whereas my work has been identified to cater to the out of doors area, an area I not too long ago developed an intimate relationship with, my partnership with Puma Hoops will enable me to inform a extra deeply rooted private story.” Bembury has spoken of his deep-rooted love of basketball that he cultivated rising up in New York Metropolis within the Nineteen Nineties. “I’ve performed basketball my entire life and have a deep historical past, emotion, and nostalgia for the game,” he mentioned. “I’m excited to leverage this collaboration as a catalyst to introduce an untold aspect of me and interact a brand new group.”

Puma Hoops has had a profitable 12 months thus far, constructing pleasure with new efficiency sneakers from NBA rookie Scoot Henderson and WNBA All-Star Breanna Stewart, each of which have impressed with their technical construct and attention-grabbing model. Their line of footwear with Hornets star Lamelo Ball, the Puma MB, has been a success each on and off the court docket, with various sold-out colorways and coveted particular editions. This looks like the perfect time for Puma Hoops to capitalize on its success and take the subsequent step ahead—and tapping a celebrated designer like Bembury, with deep roots within the sport and a powerful private imaginative and prescient that’s distinctive within the area, is the right option to do it.