Rihanna has returned as the creative director of Fenty x Puma by taking on Puma’s Avanti, which merges two Puma icons, the leather design of the King football boot with the outsole of the heritage running shoe, Easy Rider.
The Fenty x Puma Avanti is born out of Rihanna’s love of football and offers a fashion take on the current football trend, explains Puma, offering buttery soft vintage leather with a gum outsole and leather footbed.
The football trainer, available from September 15, will be available in silver and black for both adults and kids, featuring a fold-over tongue with a debossed and printed gold-foil Fenty and Puma Cat logos.
The Puma Avanti model was first launched back in 2001, taking inspiration from Jil Sander’s blending of the King, which was worn by the likes of Pelé and Maradona, and the jogging shoe Easy Rider in 1998 with the Jil Sander King sneaker.
Maria Valdes, chief product officer at Puma, said in a statement: “It’s been such an exciting start to our partnership. 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.”
Puma said that the new Fenty x Puma product kickstarts its new multi-year partnership with Rihanna and it has “several product launches in the pipeline”.
The German sportswear brand first collaborated with the singer in 2015 with the iconic Creeper. During their time between 2015 and 2018, it launched several footwear and apparel collections, including the Fenty x Puma trainer and fur slide, and staged four fashion shows in both New York and Paris.
The Fenty x Puma Avanti sneaker will be available worldwide from September 15 on the sportswear’s website and at selected retailers. A second version of the sneaker is expected to follow in the autumn.