The Best of PUMA in 2024

If there was one brand that really sank their claws into 2024, it was . The past year has been wildly successful for the Big Cat, who managed to steal a serious amount of marketshare from and after reinventing themselves with a brave new attitude and capitalising on some of the year’s biggest sneaker trends. One of the brand’s biggest success stories was the return to the streets, as the silhouette sold out drop after drop and snatched the spotlight away from the Three Stripes . And that wasn’t the only retro PUMA had up their sleeve – there have never been more eyes on the PUMA Archive, as the brand brought back the iconic and weaved some of their vintage DNA into colabs with and . Over on the performance side, PUMA’s track and field athletes dominated the Olympics, and the brand also re-established itself as a serious competitor within the road running market, thanks to their ultra-daring Rule Breaker training shoe. All these accolades are just the beginning – with lots to pack in, here are picks for the best of the Big Cat in 2024.

Speedcat Stole the Show

The Big Cat’s longstanding history with motorsport is , but one of their early fireproof F1 models is actually one of their bestselling silhouettes of all time. Plenty of OGs will remember the super-sleek PUMA Speedcat from the early 2000s, but the silhouette sprang out of hibernation this year as the low-profile trend hit new levels and F1 viewership skyrocketed. After dropping in an ultra-wearable black and OG Ferrari red colourway and instantly selling out in Korea, the Speedcat became the new favourite sneaker of the fashion set, leaving the Samba in the rear-view mirror. With plenty of Speedcat-themed pop-ups making the rounds over the year and scores of people still trying to get their hands on a pair, we can expect to see much more from the silhouette in 2025.

The Mighty Mostro Returned

PUMA started 2024 off strong with the re-launch of the mighty Mostro, an early noughties silhouette with a serious bite to it. Named after the Italian word for ‘monster’, the Mostro was designed by , who Frankensteined an archive sprint spike and a surf shoe to create the silhouette. Though it felt like a risk at the time, the Mostro was backed by fashionistas like Bjork and Madonna, and it went on to be one of the Big Cat’s biggest-selling styles of that era.

This year, with Y2K styling still dominating our social media feeds, the Mostro was perfectly poised for a comeback. It arrived in January in one toned-down grey iteration and one impossible-to-ignore neon yellow colourway. The duo was soon followed by perforated versions in a homage to the OG. Collaborators also got in on the silhouette’s return – and took the style out to the trails and A$AP Rocky delivered an even more monstrous that hit shelves in September.

A$AP Rocky Balled Out

A$AP Rocky is basically fashion royalty at this point and the Fashion Killa continued to make himself known as creative director of PUMA’s F1 line. Alongside dropping his collaborative motorsport-inspired clothing capsules, Pretty Flacko brought back the sporty and dreamed up the aforementioned 3D-printed Mostro. Outside of his PUMA projects, Rocky continued to pledge allegiance to the Big Cat at his own during the SS25 season at Paris Fashion Week Men’s. There, Rocky dripped his models out with PUMA accessories, as well as Inhales, Mostros and Speedcats to boot. We even caught up with him after the shoe to chop it up about his favourite PUMA models.

Wins and Records

The Big Cat didn’t just dominate in terms of street style – they were wildly successful performance-wise too. Over the summer, PUMA athletes continued the brand’s long history of dominating the track and field events at the . Big Cat athletes took home a total of 66 medals, making it PUMA’s most successful Games ever. Sprinter defied expectations when she took home Gold in the 100m sprint wearing the evoSPEED TOKYO NITRO, and she became Saint Lucia’s first-ever medal-winning athlete in doing so. Elsewhere, Ukrainian high jumper won the women’s high jump, sporting an adapted pair of evoSPEED spikes on foot. Swedish-American also got everybody talking when he set a new world record in the pole vault and then went on to break his own record again in the same year. If that wasn’t enough, he also beat PUMA athlete and hurdler Karsten Warholm in an later this year.

Outside of athletics, PUMA saw major successes in other sports. PUMA-sponsored team Manchester City took home the W in the Premier League, and WNBA player helped New York Liberty to a historic league win with her signature on foot. The Big Cat also continued to dominate in Formula 1 sponsorship, as they snapped-up Charles Leclerc this season.

Breaking the Rules

Records weren’t the only thing PUMA were breaking in 2024 – they also looked to break the rules. The brand introduced their new training shoe, the (aka Rule Breaker) in August, and the souped-up supershoe had the running world talking, as it quickly became clear that PUMA were raring to take on the likes of and Nike. A product of PUMA’s technical innovation lab spearheaded by Romain Girard, the RB NITRO Elite packs a punch with a 58mm stack height, which makes it illegal for racing but a killer training tool, and a shape that's clearly engineered to propel you forwards. The shoe launched in a super limited run earlier this year, but rumour has it that it may return in 2025.

An Unexpected Colab

Continuing on the performance theme, PUMA added a surprising collaborator to their roster when they welcomed renowned designer to their division. Though Bembury is well versed in working for plenty of brands, the move is a new challenge for him as he’s also been tasked with finding PUMA’s next signature athlete and designing their first signature shoe. While we’re still yet to see how this partnership pans out, Bembury has been getting stuck into the project by testing some NITROFOAM models with a familiar-looking fingerprint motif on the heel.

Skepta’s Signature

Skepta might have joined the PUMA fam all the way back in 2022, but his first signature products were worth the wait. This year saw Big Smoke design his own stomper, the , which was built off the back of one of PUMA’s archive golf shoes, the PG Patent. Naturally, the result was celebrated with a huge London launch event that saw Skep shut down Shoreditch, and Sneaker Freaker were there to learn all about his new venture. As well as dropping the Skope Forever, Skepta followed up with a cut-out take on the and a winter-ready of his Skope creation. Better late than never!

Taking Vegas

Building on their F1 partnership, PUMA rounded out the year with a massive party ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The event was in celebration of their , a whopping 25,000 square-foot store in the heart of the Entertainment Capital of the world. As well as showcasing their 2025 Speedcat colourways there were special appearances by F1 drivers and a DJ set from Paris Hilton (that’s hot). As the year draws to a close, it looks like PUMA are looking to keep the party going in 2025…

For more of our end-of-year round-ups, head .