Site Visit: Puma On 14th NYC

PSFK decided to pop along and see the new Puma concept store on West 14th in New York’s "trendy" Meat Packing. Dedicated to a sports-fashion fusion sort of approach, the new store has been launched by Puma to:

"act as a laboratory or incubator for the brand to experiment with new
ideas and infuse the PUMA personality with the design sensibility of
experts from various industries."

The store is snuggled between Brit power designers Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen and inside sits various collaborations by designers for the store.

Maybe the location was the first point when we started to feel that it was trying a little too hard for its own good. Why wasn’t this store in Nolita or even the revitalized Bleeker Street? The location smacks of ‘band-wagon’. Even Bathing Ape’s location in Soho made sense compared to this.

The look inside was disappointing too: The interior reminded us of that late-90s-back-to-the-future design you’d see dotcom agencies and their cafes dressed in. It was nothing new. The space was very much a museum piece – look but don’t touch. It felt so strange for a sports brand to avoid any playfulness. If you ignored some of the pointless shoes, where there was some sportiness to the fashion apparel it worked well. The rest failed.

The store was designed to fit in with the Meatpacking district but, apart from the hordes of vacationing Europeans stunned by the power of their currency, we can’t quite work out who else this concept would appeal to.

About Puma’s Store