Sports company PUMA has today announced a new initiative that looks to evolve how the brand navigates its sustainability journey by including the next generation’s perspectives and recommendations. The project, coined Voices of a RE:GENERATION, will kick off with PUMA collaborating and giving a ‘seat at the table’ to four, young, environmentalist ‘voices’ from across Europe and the US over a year-long period.

Part of PUMA’s ongoing commitment to a Forever Better, the four Voices of a RE:GENERATION will work with PUMA to translate sustainability in a way that makes sense to and engages with the next generation, in addition to feeding into how the brand can drive greater sustainability practices, in line with its 10 for 25 targets. Work will take on an honest and candid consultancy format, with the voices sharing their perspectives and insights and identifying areas where the brand can improve. 

PUMA’s Voices of a RE:GENERATION represents a continuation of the work PUMA started in September 2022 with its ‘Conference of the People, powered by PUMA’ event in London. The conference, which discussed solutions for some of the fashion industry’s most pressing sustainability challenges with a special focus on Gen- Z, highlighted the need for brands to improve transparency and conduct greater communication regarding sustainability.

The new initiative builds upon the brand’s commitment to ensuring PUMA’s sustainability initiatives are digestible for everyone, particularly for the next generation, after research conducted by PUMA found that 71% of young people felt their voices weren’t being heard when it comes to the environment and would like to see brands making more commitments (49%), communicating their goals better (40%) and being more transparent (34%).

Throughout 2023, PUMA’s Voices of a RE:GENERATION will meet with Anne-Laure Descours, PUMA’s Chief Sourcing Officer, and PUMA’s Sustainability team to collaborate and present their honest views. Working together, the partnership will explore actionable ways that feedback can be implemented within PUMA’s business and sustainability strategy, whilst also using the voices’ platforms to communicate PUMA’s efforts transparently and authentically to the world.

Speaking on the new initiative Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at PUMA, said: “We’ve always documented our progress in sustainable practices. However our participation in Conference of the People has shed light on the fact that the information we share isn’t always easily understood by the next generation. We recognise the need for change, and we're committed to making sustainability more accessible and transparent to everyone. Voices of a RE:GENERATION is our first step in improving this.”

Alice Aedy, UK, comments: “Sustainability is highly unglamorous, technical but urgent work with impacts for both people and planet. It’s undeniably a hugely complex topic. It’s deeper than just materials or emissions; it’s about the people and processes that strive behind the scenes to realise a brand’s efforts to be more sustainable and it’s also about how the brand, like PUMA, is communicating that with authenticity”. 

Andrew Burgess, USA, comments: “Sustainability can’t be one-sided. You can’t have one brand calling the shots, especially when you have consumers worldwide interacting with your products. I’m looking forward to delving deep into PUMA’s efforts and sharing my take on how they can improve. It’s time our generation had a seat at the table”.

Luke Jaque-Rodney, Germany, comments: “We can all try our best to live and dress sustainably, but ultimately, we’re at the mercy of the brands we buy our clothing from. We know that one person can’t make a difference alone, but our voices are still powerful when combined and communicated with the right people and the right brands, like PUMA. This is very exciting”.

Jade Roche, France, comments: “It’s great to see a global brand like PUMA holding itself more accountable for their sustainability and being willing and open to having these tough conversations when it comes to how they’re doing and how they're planning. It’s also time that we, in general, started discussing what sustainability really means; what does it take for a brand to achieve greater sustainability on all aspects of it while being transparent, and what does it look like for the next generation?”

Voices of a RE:GENERATION is just one step further in years of progress for PUMA. In 2022, the brand topped the Business of Fashion sustainability ranking, the platform on living wage financials ranking, and the FTSE4Good ranking within its sectors. It was included in the Corporate Knights global top 100 most sustainable companies ranking, maintained its triple-A ranking with MSCI and its prime status with ISS; two leading sustainability rating agencies. Reuters also ranked it as number two within its sector and, in S&P sustainability benchmarking, PUMA outperformed all other sports brands for the first time since 2010.

PUMA’s Voices of a RE:GENERATION launches today and marks the beginning of a year-long initiative that gathers insights and feedback on how to improve its efforts in communicating on sustainability. Follow PUMA and its voices on social media to see their conversations with PUMA come to life and encourage change. More information can be found at https://about.puma.com/en/sustainability/voicesofregeneration

Sports company PUMA has appointed PUMA’s Global Director Retail and e-Commerce Karthik Balagopalan (42) as the new Managing Director of PUMA India, one of the company’s fastest growing markets.

Karthik has been with PUMA since 2006. Prior to leading PUMA’s global DTC business, he held management positions in the Retail operations and Business Development at PUMA India. His local knowledge, relevant experience in the direct-to-consumer business across all channels combined with exposure to global business and headquarter functions makes him the ideal candidate for managing the important Indian market. Karthik will report into PUMA CEO Arne Freundt and will be based in Bangalore, India.

Karthik replaces Abhishek Ganguly, who worked for PUMA’s Indian business for 17 years and has been the Managing Director of PUMA India since 2014. Abhishek leaves PUMA to pursue a career as an entrepreneur in his own venture.

“India is a vibrant market, where PUMA has been the No. 1 brand for many years. With the appointment of Karthik, we will write the next chapter of this very successful story,” said PUMA CEO Arne Freundt. “I would like to thank Abhishek for his energy and commitment over the past 17 years and wish him all the best for his future as an entrepreneur.”

Karthik will start in his new role on August 1, 2023. Abhishek will remain at PUMA until the end of August to ensure a smooth transition.

Sports company PUMA has made 7 out of 10 products from better materials in 2022, according to the company’s Sustainability Report 2022, as it further scaled up the use of recycled materials.

Better materials, such as cotton and viscose from certified sources or recycled polyester, have a smaller environmental footprint in terms of CO2 emissions and allow PUMA to improve its environmental impact across its product range. Since 2017, we have been able to reduce PUMA’s CO2emissions from materials by 32%. Overall CO2 emissions could be reduced by 7%*, despite a significant growth in sales.

“Our Forever Better strategy aims to make PUMA better across the entire value chain, whether it comes to materials, carbon emissions, circularity or human rights,” said Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at PUMA. “We know there is still a lot of work to be done, but we are encouraged by the progress we made last year.”

While PUMA, which is on track to reach its goal of making 9 out of 10 products with better materials by 2025, continued to power 100%* of its offices, stores and warehouses with renewable energy in 2022, its suppliers also increased the use of renewable energy in the supply chain, where most of PUMA’s carbon emissions originate.

PUMA’s core suppliers, which represent approximately 80 % of PUMA’s production volume, more than doubled their consumption of renewable energy in just one year, from 0.2% in 2017 to 11% in 2022. This was achieved through the installation of large-scale solar power systems at selected suppliers and the purchase of renewable energy certificates. By 2025, PUMA aims to more than double this figure once again and get its core suppliers to source a quarter of their energy needs from renewable sources.

More than 50% of the polyester used in PUMA’s apparel and accessories came from recycled materials and the company also started to scale up the use of recycled cotton.

At the same time, PUMA made progress with its Forever Better experiments RE:SUEDE, which tests for a biodegradable sneaker, and RE:FIBRE, which aims to scale up more advanced polyester recycling technologies. Both projects continue in 2023.

To ensure that the rights of the more than half a million workers in PUMA’s supply chain were upheld, the company collected audit reports from 510 factories producing finished products and materials in 2022.

PUMA’s sustainability report is available at https://annual-report.puma.com. As a result of the feedback PUMA received during its first “Conference of the People” in London in 2022 and to reach out to young audiences, parts of the sustainability report will also be made available as a podcast on Spotify, launching June 1, 2023.

*Including renewable energy attribute certificates

Sports company PUMA has created a podcast series to make its 2022 Sustainability Report more accessible and to reach a wider and younger audience. The RE:GEN REPORTS podcast features next-generation thinkers from six countries and distills the content of the report into 10 podcast episodes, of which the first three are available on all major podcast platforms on June 1.

The RE:GEN REPORTS podcast, as well as the recently announced Voices of a Re:Generation project, comes as a direct result of the feedback PUMA received at last year’s Conference of the People, which the company organized to discuss solutions for some of the fashion industry’s most pressing sustainability challenges with Gen-Z representatives, industry peers and experts.

“We believe in collaboration, when it comes to sustainability, whether it is NGOs, brands or consumers, especially young people, who will have to live with the decisions made today,” says Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer at PUMA. “During last year’s Conference of the People, we saw that we needed to do more to reach out to younger generations when we talk about sustainability. A sustainability report as a podcast has never been done before in our industry, but we believe it is an important step to connect with GEN-Z audiences and open up these important conversations.”

Each episode of RE:GEN REPORTS will discuss one of PUMA’s 10for25 sustainability targets, covering topics from human rights to sustainable material sourcing, to explain why the company set targets in these areas and what progress it has made. An additional seven episodes will be released weekly from June 8 until July 20.

Based on PUMA’s target to train 100,000 direct and indirect staff on women’s empowerment comes the Human Rights episode. Anya Dillard, US-based award-winning activist, model, and social entrepreneur speaks to Viola Wan, PUMA’s Teamhead of Social Sustainability based in China. The episode discusses PUMA’s audit work with factories in its supply chain.

A target to make 100% of all PUMA products safe to use is the basis of the Chemicals episode. This episode features Germany-based sustainable and healthy living vlogger Luke Jaque-Rodney in conversation with Klaas Nuttbohm from ZDHC, an organisation leading the fashion industry to eliminate harmful chemicals. Luke is one of PUMA’s Voices of a Re:Generation, working with PUMA to translate sustainability in a way that makes sense to and engages with the next generation.

The third episode, Circularity, is based on the target to reduce production waste to landfills by at least 50%. US-based up-cycler, and another of PUMA’s Voices of a Re:Generation, Andrew Burgess is joined by PUMA’s Senior Manager Corporate Strategy, Simon Hessel. The two discuss the chemical recycling process and how it’s used in RE:FIBRE, PUMA’s textile to textile recycling project.

Collaboration across the industry is key to unlocking sustainable progress. Throughout the podcast series, PUMA will feature representatives from industry bodies, businesses and NGOs that push brands to ensure more sustainable practises are in place and monitored. Guests on RE:GEN REPORTS include Fair Labour Association’s Chief of Staff, Shelly Han, UNFCCC’s Sector’s Engagement in Climate Action Lead, Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu, Canopy’s Founder and Executive Director, Nicole Rycroft and Leather Working Group’s Traceability Manager, Vanessa Brain.

PUMA has secured the help of several next-generation entrepreneurs and sustainability experts to host each episode such as Amina Shakeel, Fair Labour Association (FLA) student committee member, Bertha Shum, Hong Kong based founder and CEO of Earthero, Ripudaman Bevli, India based environmentalist and social activist, Melissa Tan, Malaysia based climate action and sustainability advocate, Yumika Hoskin, US-based Pecobag founder, Diandra Marizet US-based intersectional environmentalist, and Monica Buchan-Ng, the Acting Head of Knowledge Exchange at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion in the UK.

PUMA’s sustainability efforts have been recognized several times. In 2022, the brand topped the Business of Fashion sustainability ranking, the platform on living wage financials ranking, and the FTSE4Good ranking within its sectors. It was included in the Corporate Knights global top 100 most sustainable companies ranking, maintained its triple-A ranking with MSCI and its prime status with ISS; two leading sustainability rating agencies. Reuters also ranked it as number two within its sector and, in S&P sustainability benchmarking, PUMA outperformed all other sports brands for the first time since 2010.

PUMA’s full 2022 Sustainability Report can be accessed here.

For more information about the RE:GEN Reports podcast and to listen to first three episodes, click here.

• Reorganization to improve alignment across key business categories and accelerate decision-making

• Relocation of Brand Management and Marketing Operations from Boston to Herzogenaurach-HQ

• Strengthening of local US marketing team by increased responsibilities

• Richard Teyssier appointed as new Global Brand & Marketing Director

• PUMA CEO Arne Freundt: “With the reorganization of our Global Marketing function we will lay the organizational foundation to relentlessly drive brand elevation as one of our key strategic priorities.“

As part of the implementation of its strategic priorities, German sports company PUMA is reorganizing the global Marketing Organization. The decision lays the organizational foundation for further elevating the PUMA brand, one of the company’s three strategic priorities. Going-forward PUMA’s Global Marketing Organization will be based at the company’s headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany to improve alignment and accelerate decision-making with the company’s Global Business Units, Global Go-To-Market function, and Creative Direction. This involves the relocation of the Brand Management and Marketing Operations departments from Boston to Herzogenaurach, effective July 1. At the same time, the marketing organization of PUMA North America will be further strengthened by the assignment of responsibilities for local sports marketing and local partnership management in order to elevate the brand in the US market. 

“PUMA’s brand is at the heart of our company’s success,” said Arne Freundt, CEO of PUMA. “Yet, our analyses clearly show that PUMA has significant opportunities to leverage the full potential of its brand. This is why relentlessly elevating our brand is one of our key strategic priorities. With the Global Marketing Organization being based in proximity to our key central functions at the HQ, we will lay the organizational foundation for this. It will ensure brand consistency and speed up decision-making to further strengthen the PUMA brand and it will make us even more consumer-centric. With the new setup, we will be able to drive more impactful campaigns to further establish our brand in the minds of our consumers.”

In the context of the reorganization, PUMA’s Global Chief Brand Officer Adam Petrick has decided to not transition to Herzogenaurach, but to pursue new challenges outside of PUMA, after over two decades with the brand. He will be with the company until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition.

PUMA’s Regional General Manager Europe Richard Teyssier will lead the Global Marketing Organization as Global Brand & Marketing Director, effective 1 July 2023. In this role, he will report directly to PUMA CEO Arne Freundt. Richard has broad expertise in brand management and marketing after 17 years in leading Marketing functions at Mars Inc., where he was responsible for some of the company’s most iconic brands, such as M&Ms and TWIX in France prior to joining PUMA in 2010. At PUMA, Richard had been General Manager for the French market until 2021 before assuming responsibility for Central Europe, France, UK & Ireland, Southern Europe, Northern Europe across all channels. He will continue to lead the Region Europe until his successor is announced.

“I would like to thank Adam Petrick for his significant contribution to PUMA’s success during his more than 20-year-tenure with PUMA,” said Arne Freundt. “With Richard Teyssier, we have found the ideal candidate to drive PUMA’s brand elevation strategy in the future. He is not only a true marketing specialist who comes with a strong expertise in brand management. He is also an integral part of our PUMA family and knows the business inside out from his more than 12 years of general management at PUMA France and PUMA Europe.” 

David Lu will further strengthen PUMA China’s top management by replacing Shirley as Commercial Director. He has been with PUMA since March 2023 and has worked in the fashion and sports industry for more than 15 years. Most recently, he worked as the General Manager of Retail Operations at Levi’s.

All of these changes will become effective July 1, 2023.