Yesterday was a busy afternoon as PUMA announced they were giving their most iconic endorser Walt Clyde Frazier a life time contract
this, on the heel of launching PUMA Hoops -their performance basketball division- a segment they haven’t been actively part of for nearly two decades. Yesterday it was also announced that they had signed DeAndre Ayton
and shortly thereafter Complex announced that Jay-Z was named president of Puma Hoops although that was discovered to be incorrect and in fact he was named Creative Director. Still, a busy day indeed. For outsiders to the ins and outs of the industry this may all look great on paper and certainly its a step – an aggressive step -in the right direction but there are a few things to make note of.
Signing Clyde to a life time contract was long overdue for sure but PUMA basketball doesn’t begin and end with him and nor should it. Nike didn’t become the juggernaut it is by celebrating one player from their history so one has to wonder if they will celebrate other endorsers from their past like Bobby Jones
Ralph Sampson
Isaiah Thomas
Cedric Ceballos
or George McGinnis.
I’d be highly surprised if PUMA somehow manages to resign Vince Carter given the fact that PUMA Sued Vince Carter back in 1999 for breach of contract and won. Nonetheless anything can happen now that Jay-Z is involved and time will only tell what the future holds for PUMA’s basketball division. One thing is for sure though and that is the timing was perfect. The basketball shoe segment has been struggling for some time now given the shift in demand towards running shoes and this allows for the barrier to entry to be lower and provide for the perfect opportunity for a large brand like PUMA to test the waters. Also, if you collect PUMA basketball shoes this will probably mean that shoes like the PUMA Cat Basketball Shoe
and one of my favorites, the Discman
will return and fill some much needed holes in individuals collections (this is just a theory btw none of these shoes as of this post is slated to return). In the end signing big names is great and celebrating your past is wonderful but continuously pumping out good product is what its all about and so if they can do that there is no place but to go but up. Â Stay tuned.