For the past few years, fashion has been stuck in a constant cycle of rediscovery. Shoes and aesthetics once written off as overexposed or too familiar have found their way back through smaller scenes, niche online communities, and people styling items without the meaning originally attached to them. If you were to take a walk through Le Marais in Paris, the Lower East Side in New York or any other creative hotspot in a big city, chances are the silhouettes you’ll continuously spot might not actually be the newest ones, but the ones with enough history behind them that are reinterpreted over the years. For PUMA, the communities surrounding its most celebrated silhouette, the Suede, has become its focal point of the year. 

In January, during men’s fashion week in Paris, PUMA took over 7 Rue Froissart and opened the doors to Suede House. Welcoming the likes of Skepta and Fakemink (who were also spotted in their own Suede trainers), the event was different to the traditional pop-ups that usually emerge during fashion month.

Rather than building a straightforward retrospective, PUMA turned the space into a step-by-step map of the Suede’s lifespan, tracing how one silhouette moved between basketball, music, skateboarding and street culture over the course of nearly six decades. Split into different rooms dedicated to each era, the pop-up featured archive pieces, film montages and interactive installations that represented the individuals and subcultures which have played a crucial role in the shoe’s longevity and relevance in culture.

Giving a taste of the future and evolution of the Suede, the space also previewed upcoming styles that use brand new materials and colourways. Rows of unreleased Suede iterations highlighted the diverse and innovative lineup expected across this year and more. Among them was the Charles F. Stead version, which was released last year and uses premium leather sourced from the celebrated British tannery. 

Looking at Suede’s history, it is its adaptability that separates it from the endless stream of archival reissues currently flooding fashion and sneaker culture. Most heritage silhouettes come back attached to a very specific moment or era, asking people to buy into nostalgia alongside the product itself. The Suede has never worked like that because it never fully disappeared in the first place. Since its introduction in 1968 as a performance basketball shoe, it has passed naturally between subcultures without becoming trapped and entirely owned by just one community. 

In 2026, the shoe’s original connection to Walt “Clyde” Frazier still matters, but so does its place within 90s skateboarding, British street culture and music scenes that picked it up long after its initial performance purpose had faded slightly into the background. All these decades on, what feels different now is the way those histories are starting to overlap. The current resurgence of the Suede does not belong to one singular movement or aesthetic. Instead, it reflects the way contemporary style operates more broadly, with references merging as younger creatives pull from multiple worlds at once, refusing to be boxed into one cultural association.

Inviting different individuals and worlds to put their own spin on the shoe is another way PUMA has given the Suede a chance to exist in new spaces. Earlier this year, the brand welcomed Dutch designer Daniëlle Cathari to reinterpret the silhouette, alongside the Speedcat trainer. Through her distinct approach to texture and reconstruction, Cathari transformed the silhouette with fuzzy finishes and organic references inspired by rare mushrooms and forest landscapes. For those familiar with her work, Cathari’s vision, which blends sportswear and experimentation, felt like an appropriate choice to see how younger designers are approaching archival products like the Suede.

In addition to Cathari’s collaboration, February also saw another iteration of the Suede, this time courtesy of Nahmias. Nahmias approached the silhouette from an entirely different angle during Paris Fashion Week, where the Suede appeared as part of the brand’s wider presentation rooted in West Coast culture and Americana.

Founded by Doni Nahmias in 2018, the label has built its identity around a version of California. That aesthetic then translated directly into the collaboration itself, where distressed finishes, asymmetry and vintage-inspired colourways made the Suede feel worn-in from the outset. Details like crochet elements and friendship bead references pushed the shoe further away from the cleaner, minimal versions that have dominated sneaker culture over the last decade.

Taken together, these projects point towards something bigger than a standard collaboration rollout. What PUMA seems to understand with the current direction of the Suede is that cultural relevance cannot really be manufactured through nostalgia alone anymore. Shoes return because people find new uses for them, attach new meanings and place them inside entirely different contexts from the ones they started in. The Suede works because it leaves enough room for that process to happen naturally.

As more releases continue throughout the year, with the “Never Not Suede” campaign, the current resurgence of the Suede celebrates the creative voices and worlds that orbit PUMA. Over the next few months, we will be spotlighting the individuals who help bring these visions to life. Stay tuned for more.