Rihanna is returning to work with German sportswear brand, Puma, again.
Rihanna – full name, Robyn Rihanna Fenty – first started as a creative director for the womenswear line with Puma in 2014. This eventually also involved a collaboration under her own name, Fenty X Puma.
Some of the Rihanna-inspired looks, including a thick-soled take on classic suede sneakers, the Puma Creepers, which sold out in just three hours, were an ongoing hit with consumers. The partnership also saw a number of hype-generating runway shows in Paris and New York.
The attention around the Rihanna-led athleisure collections were particularly important for the third-largest sportswear brand in the world at the time, as the German company was making concerted efforts to appeal to female shoppers. Puma also credited Rihanna’s involvement for better-than-expected sales over several quarters. However the partnership between Rihanna and Puma ended in the spring of 2018.
In 2019, WWD broke the news that Rihanna would start her own luxury fashion line with the help of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Rihanna is no stranger to the fashion world, having previously collaborated with Armani, Adidas, River Island, Manolo Blahnik and Dior eyewear, among others.
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However in 2021, less than two years after it started, the Fenty luxury label was put on ice; reports from out of LVMH seemed to suggest it had never really found its own handwriting or audience. Rihanna’s other LVMH-related projects, cosmetics brands Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin as well as the lingerie line, Fenty X Savage, are ongoing.
And now Rihanna is returning to Puma.
Her return is likely to be helpful to the sportswear brand, which just announced record results for 2022 but also predicted a slowdown this coming year.
Just as with Adidas’ now defunct collaboration with Kanye West, Puma was previously able to put a premium price on sought-after, Rihanna-designed items.
Adidas has never disclosed what it earned from the Yeezy line but industry experts suggested it may have potentially have brought in around 40 percent of the company’s annual profits, due to more favorable pricing. Doubtless the Rihanna collaboration, with items also likely to sell at higher price points, has the same positive potential for Puma.