Rihanna and PUMA have come together once again, kicking off a new chapter of Fenty x PUMA with the Avanti, which blends PUMA’s deep history and heritage in sport with Rihanna’s iconic stature as a leader in music, culture and fashion.
Football-infused footwear is enjoying a boom in popularity off-pitch at present, and having taken on the role of Creative Director of FENTY x PUMA in a new multi-year partnership, Rihanna has opted to mine the brand’s deep history and heritage in sport. The return of the partnership starts with the FENTY x PUMA Avanti, the first footwear franchise of the partnership, which arrives as an unconventional mix of two PUMA icons, blending the high-quality leather design of the King football boot with the outsole of the heritage running shoe, Easy Rider.
The PUMA King first debuted back in 1968, and in 1978, the PUMA miele started a new jogging shoe franchise that would eventually evolve into the PUMA Easy Rider. It wasn’t until 20 years later, in 1998, that it would make its transition Jil Sander and PUMA launched the first ever fashion collaboration blending these two styles with the Jil Sander King. This shoe served as the design inspiration of the Avanti which was later established by PUMA in 2001. Now in 2023, Rihanna has added her personal design language and creative elements, from the details of the leather to the gum of the outsole, putting her very own spin on this classic PUMA style.
The FENTY x PUMA Avanti is a fashion take on the football trend with buttery soft vintage leather, a fold over tongue with a debossed and printed gold-foil FENTY and PUMA CAT logo. With a gum outsole and leather footbed, the details of the Avanti nod to PUMA’s deep history and heritage in the sport of football. The black and white version is complimented by a chrome execution with laser etched logos and leather chrome details.
“I wanted to bring something iconic from the archives to the street, and the late great Pelé made the Avanti shoe so iconic.” said Rihanna.
“It’s been such an exciting start to our partnership,” said Maria Valdes, Chief Product Officer at PUMA. “We spent time together opening up the PUMA archive and identifying the right product that spoke to Rihanna. The Avanti is a PUMA classic with a unique and iconic point of view on terrace. I’m very happy to see this project come to life and even more excited for what the coming years have in store for us together.”
As Creative Director, Rihanna’s first FENTY x PUMA campaign – shot by Dennis Leupold with a set design inspired by the pentagon shape and stitching on a football – features notable names including Rihanna, A$AP Nast, Pure and Felix Mallard.
The FENTY x PUMA Avanti is available worldwide on puma.com from 15 September 2023.
