Puma Suede 'Podium'
Colorway: Alpine Snow/Gum · Style code: 398399-01 · Release date: September 3, 2024 · Price: $111 · Availability: Available now
Off-white suede and a gum sole make up the whole of this Podium edition. Alpine Snow is Puma's name for the shade, a soft cream rather than a bright white, and it covers every panel of the upper, Formstrip included. The amber gum outsole is the only real contrast on the shoe, and it warms the upper in a way a white sole would not. It went on sale September 3, 2024 at 80 dollars.
There is history behind the name. Tommie Smith and John Carlos carried Pumas to the Olympic podium in Mexico City in 1968, the same year this silhouette first appeared, and the shoe has traded on that moment ever since. The colourway itself makes no reference to it; this is simply the cleanest possible version of the shape. Cream suede is the least forgiving finish the line offers and will pick up grime along the foxing within a few wears, so treat it before it leaves the box. In return you get a shoe that works with almost any trouser colour and gets better looking as the gum sole ages.