The PUMA Suede Forever Trainer is Based on the Original Silhouette From 1968
Nothing quite screams B-Boy or classic Hip Hop like the original PUMA Suede trainer which now arrives at its spiritual in an OG inspired 'Forever' version.
Watch any documentary, period drama or film about 80s Hip Hop culture and the PUMA Suede will be in it. As Hip Hop culture took over the streets of New York in the late 1970s & early 1980s, it quickly spread across the pond with UK crews taking up the "East Coast" trends of ghetto blasters, graffiti, full tracksuits & PUMA Suedes on feet. As much as Casual Culture might of been more about Joy Division & the Jam, the Hip Hop stuff would make its mark with Birmingham's very own Zulu Warriors who were known to carry a boom box to away days blasting out sounds from Afrika Bambaataa. As B-Boy & Casual intertwined onto the youth clubs & terraces, there was a shared love of electro music, sportswear & trainers. Born out of the magical era of subcultures & Roland TR-808 drum machines, the PUMA Suede is arguably the biggest B-Boy trainer of all time. Also worn by Casuals, the Suede still looks just as fresh today, 40 plus years since the first wave of electro sounds & breakdancing crews arrived on our very own shores. PUMA's latest 'Forever' version of the Suede now takes us back to where the PUMA story first started back in 1968.
Above: The PUMA Suede Forever trainer in silver fog/gum now available from 80s Casual Classics.
The history of the PUMA Suede goes all the way back to 1968 when the Crack (as the Suede was previously known) was launched for the Mexico Olympics in 1968. The same year that Adi Dassler released the adidas Gazelle & the adidas Perfekt, Rudolph looked to 'one up' his brother with the introduction of what would eventually become PUMA's most iconic trainer of all time. At the height of the Civil Rights movement in the USA, two American African athletes Tommie Smith & John Carlos raised their fists whilst holding their PUMA trainers on the winners podium. Moving into 1972 the Crack then became the Clyde courtesy of the New York Knicks legend, Walt 'Clyde' Frazier.
Above: The PUMA Suede Forever trainer in brown/gum now available from 80s Casual Classics.
Thanks to the basketball & street connection, it was the PUMA Suede that became the go-to choice of the original B-Boys of the early 1980s with breakdancing crews even matching up colourways with full tracksuits. Drawing inspiration from the original silhouette from 1968, the PUMA Suede now returns from the Herzogenaurach archives with all its original 80s freshness. Featuring fury suede uppers with tonal formstrip branding to the sidewalls, as oppose to the usual white. Other highlights include the classic big cat logo to the tongue & 'PUMA SUEDE' in gold foiling. Shop the very latest PUMA arrivals from 80s Casual Classics via the links above.