Launching the all-new SS18 Collection in style, Puma and Big Sean teamed up for a release party in LA this. Featuring a pop-up shop powered by Nice Kicks (@shopnicekicks) that exclusively sold drop one pieces from the collection ahead of the global release. The evening had cool vibes and was an over-all memorable experience with celebrities, press, influencers and consumers joining from LA and around the world. Accompanying Sean at the event was his singer-songwriter girlfriend, Jhené Aiko as well as a number of friends and close family.

What can we expect from your Puma Collection?


Big Sean: Definitely expect something that the brand has never done before. it’s going to be a brand new look for Puma, and for myself.

How much of the Puma x Big Sean Collection is ‘you’? where did you pull inspiration from in designing the collection?

the Collection is 100% me. there’s nothing in it I didn’t see, approve, have input on and help design. I pulled inspiration from the clothes I like to wear – down to the fit of certain shirts & sweats. we even modified the Puma sizes on a few pieces to fit just right. we really had fun with it. There are no other specific brands that inspired it – we kinda just went our own way and took inspiration from all the things we like.

Your Collection consists of two contrasting color stories, why is that? How was the Collection broken down in terms of styles and materials?

We chose the color schemes based off of colors that I think would be great to wear during that time of the year. We put them on ourselves and went through a million different color pallets. We came up with the best of what we thought would be cool, that other people aren’t doing. Again, we considered what season things would drop, what the weather would be like outside and what me and my team like to wear during those times. Then trying to take it further by mixing materials. Just using our imagination, “What would be our perfect hoodie? what would be our perfect coat? What would be the perfect thing to wear for this type of weather that fits this collection?” We really analyzed it and had fun with it. As time goes on it’ll just keep progressing. It was our first time doing this, so I’m just enjoying the process and excited for it to just keep going and going. I can’t wait for people to just have the product too – I feel like this collection is much needed.

The Collection focuses on classic pieces from the Puma archive – the Clyde, Suede, and t7 track jacket. How was it working on these iconic pieces and putting your own stamp?

It was just cool to remix something I liked in the first place. I feel like that part made it easier, but I’m excited about introducing the Clyde we designed because it’s a little different than any other Clyde that’s ever been done. Even though it is the classic silhouette, we added something we thought would be very special.

The Collection is described as “classics reinvented and elevated with a nod to Detroit ’player’ style”. Detroit is not particularly known for fashion and style – but what does Detroit style mean?

I feel like Detroit is known for style, like motown was a style, it was an era. Detroit players is a coined term, I don’t know who it was coined by but I remember Biggie saying it, Biggie definitely had style, my dad has style and a lot of people from the city have style. You just see people wearing things that absurd, sometimes that bright, sometimes that are loud but you also see a workwear type of class. It’s for sure different styles, different layers to the city, its just unique to Detroit, a Detroit style. That’s why I think Detroit players didn’t come from thin air, it’s definitely been around.

The shoot location was in Big Sur, California where a barber shop was mounted by the edge of a cliff. How crazy is that? How did that concept come about?

The concept came from putting our heads together and figuring out what would be a fire way of showing off the clothes in the right environment but also something that hasn’t been done before. It was just cool to mix the worlds, and show both the environments where the clothes fit, it’s like barbershop inner city and out, obviously in the woods, hiking vibes. You know it was cool to see the contrast of putting a barber shop in the woods on a cliff in Monterey. visually it’s just eye-catching and exciting. I’m looking forward to keep doing that with the collections and styles, just keep making it exciting and doing something I’ve never done before.

We hear you were inspired by Puma’s logo from way back in the day, tell us about your branding for the Collection?

When designing the logo for the Collection, we found the old puma logo with the “d” – it inspired me – reminded me of Detroit – it was the perfect fit. We redesigned it and you know, personalized it for me. It’s unique and definitely inspired by the old logo but reinvented – it’s a new time, a new logo, new energy. Sometimes I think its best to pay homage to what came before and I think that’s what we did.

What’s next for you and Puma?

It’s definitely a relationship that’s going to keep growing and blossoming. I think that this is just a taste – like we’re just getting our feet wet. we learned a lot through this process and I can’t wait to take what we learned and apply it to the next collection. Look forward to expanding the relationship and building future collections from different styles and layers of where I’m from.