Joining the Select Collabs footwear design team at Puma for a year marked the beginning of an incredible learning curve for me. Being new to footwear design, I felt incredibly fortunate to be embraced by a team that believed in me from the outset - through projects like this one - and provided unwavering support throughout.
Bringing the beloved world of One Piece to life in footwear was both a challenge and a privilege. Recognizing the immense global fanbase spanning generations, it was essential for me to honor the essence of the series and ignite enthusiasm among fans worldwide.
The One Piece partner wanted to focus this collaboration on the upcoming episodes of the anime series and have a character focused story. It was open to us to make suggestions and after some research we agreed on the Four Emperors story, which was a pivotal part of the upcoming episodes.
My first suggestions were based on the already existing Four Emperors to which the One Piece team suggested focusing on the new ones : Luffy, Blackbeard, Shanks and Buggy.
The collaboration released In March 2024 and is one of the best selling Prime collabs for Puma this season.
