WORDS Jo Buitendach PHOTOS Supplied
Iconic local brand Nandos and PUMA will be dropping an exciting collab come Heritage Day, the PUMA x Nando’s RS-Xtra Hot.
Yes, you heard us correctly, perennial Peri-Peri chicken favourite Nando’s are releasing a sneaker -and with top German brand PUMA to boot. This is not any old tackie…this is the real deal, a shoe that any sneakerhead would covet.
Brett Bellinger, PUMA SA Marketing Director says of the partnership, “PUMA wanted to celebrate Heritage Day in South Africa by partnering with an iconic local brand that could help us capture the essence of what it means to be South African. Bold. Fiery. Somewhat audacious and eternally optimistic. Who better to announce as our partner than Nando’s, the brand that has been a part of the social and cultural fabric of South Africa since 1987”.
After digging into the PUMA archives, they, along with the Nando’s team have reimagined the RS sneaker first launched in the 1980s. This is especially fitting since Nando’s – proudly Johannesburg brand – opened their first restaurant in Rosetenville 36 years ago, and today have 1200 stores in 22 countries.
GM of Marketing for the food brand Jessica Wheeler says, “To encapsulate the fiery spirit of South Africans is something we strive to do daily through our marketing activity and to reflect in our stores and our menu, but to have that embodied in a sneaker is just next level. Nando’s resonates deeply with the spirit of creativity, and we believe that creativity can be a force for good and for change”.
The PUMA RS (Running System) was created to be the world’s first wearable sports product, and the world’s first smart shoe, and has been continually reinvented since 2018 with new styles and collaborations, including those with The Smurfs and Spongebob.
The new shoe is no less cool. The RS-Xtra Hot features a printed chilli formstrip, the Nando’s PERi-ometer® with heat levels, the heel cup referencing the colours of Nando’s sauces the PUMA logo fired up in the Nando’s font – which is based on the hand-painted signwriting of artist Marks Salimu. There’s also the Nando’s signature Barci Cockerel and an insole paying homage to the iconic sauce bottle, all wrapped up in Nando’s vibrant colours.
The PUMA X Nando’s RS-Xtra Hot (R1999) will be release in limited quantities in SA, the US and UAE and will be available at PUMA.com, PUMA Retail Stores, sportscene, Side Step, Shelflife, Shesha, Superbalist, The Cross Trainer, Sneaker District and Colt45 by Al Capone.