Puma Suede Mid AD4PT 'Black Dark Shadow'
Colorway: Black/Dark Shadow · Style code: 381182-01 · Release date: September 21, 2022 · Price: $79 · Availability: Available now
Very little about this pair matches the shoe it takes its name from. The AD4PT is cut at mid height rather than low, built from nylon rather than brushed leather, and finished in black over dark shadow, a deep grey. Puma priced it at 140 dollars and put it out on September 21, 2022, around double the cost of an ordinary pair from the same season. It is the utility reading of the silhouette: technical fabric, extra coverage over the ankle and a palette with no colour in it at all.
Mid-cut takes on low-top classics usually fail because the added height fights the proportions. This one has an easier job, since the materials change at the same time: nylon holds a different shape from hide, so the collar reads as intentional rather than as a low top with a tube bolted on. Black and grey suit the format too. The point of a shoe like this is weather and durability rather than colour, and a monochrome finish keeps attention on the panelling. What you give up is the thing most people buy the original for, the feel of the nap and the way it takes dye. What you get back is a version that will survive an autumn.