PUMA STATES ‘Salesman Sample’
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MADE IN: CHINA
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For what may appear to be a regular PUMA Suede’s in an appealing colourway, there’s much more to these than first meets the eye. These are a pair of States. A sample pair at that and the States have a significant history and presence with UK cultures. This particular article from 2007/8 never made it to market and along with other colourways never made it pass this stage.
The PUMA States hit UK shores in the late 1980s/early 1900s and they’ve been a certified classic ever since. Before that the only place where the PUMA Suede could be purchased was in America, so people would have to make a long-distance trip, or ask friends & family to kindly bring back or send pairs home. The UK people nicknamed them ‘States’ and PUMA recognised the impact they were making and produced the States a few years later. So without the dedication and passion of those early PUMA connoisseurs the shoe may never have seen the light of day.
Since the release of the originals in the early 1990s, they were never re-issued as a general release shoe until 2014. They were only produced for a few years and in a small selection of colourways. This makes them one of the most desirable shoes and most sought after amongst PUMA collectors. Over the past 10 years the shoe had been reserved for collaborations and special mock-up including Size?, Solebox and The Shadow Society. It’s not known why these didn’t make it production stages, but maybe the thinking was that they would have been too similar to other PUMA Suede’s available at the time.
The original PUMA States were admired for their low profile, short toe section and flat sole. This Yellow/Black mock-up wasn’t one of the original versions released but would surely have gone down well should they have hit stores. Now the States have been reintroduced to the UK market maybe we’ll see this colourway make an appearance all these years later.
Photography: errol
Text: Professor B
