PUMA has teamed up with African artists to create football kits for the brand’s 10 partnered African National football teams. Renowned artists from the Creative African Network (CAN), a platform supported by PUMA that connects and promotes artists from Africa, took a hand in creation of colorful kits collection inspired by the country’s heritage. The collection is now exhibited at the Design Museum, London.
Photo: Football kits for 10 African teams, Richard Heathcote/Getty Images for Puma
The exhibition opened yesterday and will be in display till November 27. Famous African footballers including Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Yaya Touré of Ivory Coast were present at the exhibition opening.
The 2012 Orange Africa Cup of Nations will start soon and the new collection is a good chance for PUMA to demonstrate how the brand has fused its work within sport and art. CAN platform is a part of the PUMA.Creative project (a programme of PUMAVision) that brings together individual artists and organizations and facilitates creative exchange on the international level.
«PUMA has been at the forefront of integrating the two disparate worlds of sport and art, and today through a celebration of football, art, colour and culture, we have shown to the world how these two spheres can be uniquely combined,» comments Franz Koch, CEO of PUMA SE. «PUMA has a long standing history with Africa, and this event demonstrates how as a brand we continue to be fully committed to our relationship with the continent.»
The PUMA partnered African national teams represented include Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Namibia, Senegal,Togo, Gabon, Burkina Faso and PUMA’s newest partner South Africa, which signed with the brand in June 2011.
The technical kits have been designed to make the player’s on-pitch performance optimal. The fabric features PUMA’s U.S.P Moisture Management technology that helps dragging moisture away from the body, enhancing air flow and thus maintaining the ultimate performance body temperature.
In October, PUMA signed Spanish footballer Cesc Fabrega to promote its boots on pitch.
