First, I Owe You An Apology
Then... Puma's rough quarter, Saucony's moment, a Skechers surprise, adidas' smartest new shoe, and Reebok's return to basketball
First things first... I owe you an apology.
Someone reached out recently wondering why I never responded to their email. I said I read everything that comes in, and I meant it... but it turns out I wasn’t actually seeing everything. There was a settings issue where I was only catching direct replies in the app, not replies through email. So if you sent me something and heard crickets, that’s on me and I’m sorry.
I’ve fixed it now. Expect some random email replies from me over the coming days as I work through the backlog. Nothing weird, just me finally catching up on conversations I should have been a part of a while ago.
A new format I want to try...
Not every story needs 800 words and a deep dive. Sometimes a few things happen in the same week and they’re each interesting enough to mention, but none of them quite warrant a full newsletter on their own.
So I’m trying something new here... a roundup of stories that caught my attention this week. Think of it as a quick scan of what’s happening across the industry, with my take on each one. Let me know what you think.
I Can’t Help But Feel For PUMA
I keep coming back to this one because it’s such a stark reminder of what happens when a brand loses its identity and tries to compete everywhere at once.
Puma’s Q4 North America sales dropped 33 percent, with the full year down 19 percent in the region. Their CEO is calling 2025 a “reset year” and promising a return to profitable growth by 2027. To me that signals a brand that spent years chasing distribution volume, especially in off-price and mass merchant channels, and is now paying the price for it.
Pulling out of those channels is the right move long-term... but it’s painful short-term and the numbers show it. The Speedcat is doing real work for them in lifestyle, and their performance running story is quietly improving with the Velocity Nitro line, but those bright spots are getting drowned out by the restructuring noise right now.
I genuinely hope they figure it out. The footwear world is more interesting with a healthy Puma in it.
Saucony Is Doing It Right
On the flip side of that coin, Saucony is having a moment and I think it’s worth paying attention to why. Full transparency, I’ve been a fan of Saucony long-before it was cool to be.
Q4 brand revenue was up 26.4 percent year over year. Their performance business grew over 20 percent, and their lifestyle business grew even faster. They had a collaboration with Westside Gunn and Kith at Art Basel that sold out in minutes and drove record traffic to saucony.com. And their core franchise models... the Ride, Guide, Hurricane, and Triumph... are all contributing to growth, not just the halo product.
I mentioned a few years ago that they combined lifestyle and performance in ways people hadn’t considered and I think this proves that you don’t have to choose between being a serious running brand and being a cultural brand if you’re calculated. Saucony has figured out how to operate in both spaces without compromising either one. That’s genuinely hard to do, and not enough people are talking about it.
