The shoe brand Puma has a large street following dating back to the 80’s when NYC DJ’s & Hip Hop Artists started wearing Puma sneakers and workout attire. Before that Puma has a long history dating back to 1924 …
Puma Throughout the years information provided by http://about.puma.com/EN/1/10/10/.
1924
- Foundation of Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik, Herzogenaurach, Germany.
1936
- Competing at the Berlin Olympic Games, American hero Jesse Owens wins four Gold medals wearing Dassler shoes. During the Games, almost every member of the German Football team wears Dassler shoes. In total, seven Gold and five Bronze medals as well as two world and three Olympic records are won and set by athletes wearing Dassler shoes.
1952
- Josef Barthel of Luxembourg wins PUMA’s first Olympic Gold (1500m) in Helsinki, Finland and the US-women relay team wins Gold for the 4x100m – all wearing PUMA.
- Production of the SUPER ATOM.
- At the start of the season, the SUPER ATOM is being distributed to top players and selected stores.
- The SUPER ATOM is worn for the first time by top players of the clubs Borussia Dortmund (10 players), Eintracht Frankfurt (1 player), VfB Stuttgart (9 players) as well as 1. FC Kaiserslautern (7 players). Among others, the players wearing the SUPER ATOM for the first time are Horst Eckel und Werner Liebrich, who, due to their excellent performance in the field, advance into the German national team.
1969
- Quarterback Joe Namath leads the New York Jets (American football team) to Super Bowl III, wearing PUMA shoes.
1978/79
- Guillermo Vilas wins the Australian Open wearing PUMA.
- Argentina’s football player Mario Kempes leads his country on home soil to its first World Cup triumph. Kempes is top scorer of the tournament and wears PUMA shoes together with nine other players on the winning team.
1986
- The company PUMA goes public and the PUMA stock is traded on the Munich and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
- Argentinean football player Diego Maradona leads his country to the World Cup title. Wearing PUMA football boots, Maradona scores the “famous Hand of God” goal as well as the spectacular solo effort which will later officially be voted Goal of the Century by FIFA. Maradona is voted “Player of the Tournament”.
1996
- PUMA presents its PUMA CELL technology, the first foam-free midsole.
- PUMA acquires its licensee in North America and establishes “PUMA North America, Inc.” as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
- PUMA AG is included in the German mid-cap index M-Dax.
- PUMA introduces a new Pittards leather – Pittards Soccer 2000 – developed exclusively for the KING boot. This new generation of the KING boot is first unveiled at EURO ’96 in England. Wearing the boot at its debut, the Czech team reaches the finals.
- PUMA Team Atletico Madrid wins the Spanish Football League and Cup titles.
- PUMA celebrates the 2nd Street Soccer Cup Final in London, England, with a record-breaking 28 countries participating.
- PUMA announces a collaborative partnership with world-renowned designer Philippe Starck.
- PUMA and the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team sign a multi-year contract.
- PUMA introduces the revolutionary All-In-One ‘UniQT’ for the Cameroon football team at the 2004 African Cup of Nations. The new ‘UniQT’ is the successor of the groundbreaking PUMA sleeveless shirt worn by the Cameroon team in the 2002 African Cup of Nations.
- PUMA and designer Neil Barrett present the new 2004 Italian National Team kit. Named creative director of PUMA’s Italia Collection in 2003, Neil Barrett provided the creative vision of the new playing kit and personally designed the official formalwear for the team.
- At the Olympic Games in Athens, Jamaica’s women relay teams win Bronze for the 4x400m and Gold for the 4x100m relay.
- PUMA and Ferrari Spa announce that they have signed a multi-year contract, which becomes effective on January 1, 2005. PUMA becomes the official licensee of replica and fan merchandise as well as supplier of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the most successful Formula 1 team of all times.
- PUMA becomes the official supplier of racing shoes to Michael Schumacher.
2008
- As leading supplier of the 2008 Africa Cup, PUMA outfits nine of the 16 teams.
- PUMA and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) announce a multi-year extension of their successful partnership through the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
- The Egyptian Football National Team wins the Africa Cup. For the 6th time, a PUMA Team wins the title.
- PUMA and the Fédération Ivoirienne de Football (FIF) continue the successful partnership through the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
- PUMA extends the contract with the Swedish Athletic Association until the end of 2012.
- PUMA appoints Hussein Chalayan, global designer, artist and film maker, as the Creative Director for PUMA, responsible for designing, creating and developing the sport fashion collections of the brand. PUMA also acquired a majority stake in Chalayan´s business and brand Hussein Chalayan.
- PUMA and the Swiss Football Association (SFV) announce a multi-year extension of their successful partnership, which was first initiated in 1998, through the 2010 World Cup and beyond the 2012 European Championships.
- Presentation of the new racing boat for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008 – 2009 in Boston Harbor, which was christened “il Mostro” by actress Salma Hayek on May 12th.
- Giorgio Belloli is appointed as CEO of the PUMA subsidiary Hussein Chalayan.
- PUMA by Mihara Yasuhiro launches its new sport-fashion apparel collection that complements the PUMA by Mihara Yasuhiro footwear.
- PUMA athlete Usain Bolt breaks the world record, when he clocks 9.72 seconds in the 100 metres in New York City on May 31st.
- PUMA sponsors five national teams at the European Football Championship 2008 including the World Champion Italy as well as the host nations Austria and Switzerland.
- The licensing contract for socks and new licensing contract for bodywear with Dobotex is extended.
- PUMA sponsors 16 national teams at the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing.
- PUMA’s outstanding athlete “Lightning” Bolt sets a new 100m world record at 9.69 seconds, smashing his own mark from May this year, and sprinted 200m in a world record time of 19.30 seconds, beating Michael Johnson’s 1996 record by two hundredths of a second. He won his third gold medal as Jamaica shattered the world record at 4 x 100m relay in 37.10 seconds.
- PUMA and Sergio Rossi initiate a collaboration and launch a capsule collection of women’s footwear during the Milan fashion week.
- PUMA and the global organization Peace One Day celebrate the “International Day of Peace” on September 21st.
- PUMA and German premier league football club VfB Stuttgart continue their successful partnership by signing a multi-year extension of the agreement until 2015.
- PUMA produces for the first time footballs – bearing the fair trade certification mark – in order to endorse a campaign focusing on the prevention of juvenile delinquency in South Africa.
- PUMA and the Egyptian Football Association announce a multi-year extension of their successful partnership beyond the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.