17 Nov Puma And Foot Locker Expand Partnership
Puma and Foot Locker, Inc. have extended their long-standing partnership through collection and marketing collaborations with a refocus on basketball and to reach younger consumers.
“Puma’s long-standing relationship with Foot Locker has played an instrumental role in our ability to drive innovation and push the boundaries of sports, fashion and technology globally,” said Bob Philion, president, Puma NA. “Our enhanced partnership not only provides us with additional opportunities for collaboration and growth, but it will enable us to provide even greater experiences and inclusion for our evolving customer base around the world.”
The latest partnership agreement includes the following:
- Expanding Puma’s basketball and classic categories with continued exclusive access to the LaMelo Ball Signature program, which launched with the MB.02 in October, with iterations launching in November and December 2022;
- Launching a Puma x Pokémon collaboration. Puma and Foot Locker, Inc. partnered with The Pokémon Company Int. and Niantic, the publisher of the Pokémon GO mobile game, to turn, for the next six months, 400 Foot Locker, Champs Sports and Kids Foot Locker stores in the U.S., and the Puma NYC Flagship store, into gyms and Poké Stops in Pokémon GO;
- Puma x Paw Patrol, a new collection of kid’s sports styles to be sold exclusively at Kids Foot Locker and Foot Locker in North America starting November 25;
- Creating and launching an upcoming athlete capsule collection with Mikey Williams, the five-star guard at San Ysidro High School in San Diego who signed a contract to play for the University of Memphis;
- Building exclusive, forthcoming product programs with social media influencer and musician Dixie D’Amelio and hip-hop artist Cordae; and
- Puma x CoComelon, a new collaboration, debuting Spring 2023, available exclusively at Kids Foot Locker.
“We are very excited to build on our already strong partnership with Puma,” said Andrew Gray, executive vice president, Global Lockers and Champs Sports, Foot Locker, Inc. “By expanding and strengthening our collaboration with Puma, we continue to advance our strategy to diversify our product selection and bring new and innovative products to our consumers.”
Puma and Foot Locker are continuing to pursue shared marketplace opportunities, including:
- adding hype drops and marketplace exclusivity through franchises, including RSX, shared marketing partnership investments and elevated in-store and online experiences for Puma and Foot Locker customers; and
- investing in product creation and marketing to support Foot Locker’s Leading Education & Economic Development Initiative.
Foot Locker also announced expanded partnerships with Adidas and Reebok surrounding exclusive product and marketing collaborations. The partnership follows Nike’s plan to reduce product allocations to Foot Locker.