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.
The PUMA x X-Girl collaboration was my first project as an intern with PUMA's Select - Collabs team, marking my first professional experience in footwear design. It is important to note that I worked independently on this project - assisted by marketing and development counterparts - from inception to completion.
I had complete creative freedom for this project as the X-Girl partner did not provide a specific story. I decided to revisit their skateboarding roots, considering X-Girl was established as the female counterpart to the skate brand X-Large. Drawing inspiration from the brand's early 2000s history and the HBO skate series Betty which had recently come out, I developed a DIY-inspired narrative. This approach allowed me to create a skate-inspired shoe that resonates with women and girls, giving them the ability to see themselves in the design and personalize it to their tastes.
I have also found it very interesting to design the diy pieces and graphics even down to their measurements for this project as it brought up a new challenge I was facing for first time.
The collaboration was released in March 2024.
