Puma Disc Tech Breakdown

Puma, founded in 1948, has been one of the longest standing front runners for sports related footwear. One thing that has always been a pain when it comes to the brand is the lack of history and story telling, especially for some of their technologies. Hopefully this will be the start of a whole heap of new juicy info to share with you!

Ronnie Fieg x Puma Disc 'Coat of Arms' (black/atlantis) 📸 - @aintfussed

Technical Breakdown

The Puma Disc, designed by Christoph Berger, is one of the brands most recognisable models with its quick dial lacing system. Originally brought to the scene in 1991 as a runner/lifestyle/rehabilitation shoe, it blessed the market with the first ever laceless running technology. At the time, this was a huge step in terms of innovation with many brands coming up with their own ways of creating more custom fits for the wearer of their product (i.e. Reebok Pump).

U.S. Patent June 2, 1992 - 'Shoe with flexible upper material provided with a closing device.'

Stability and comfort have always been 2 of the main benefactors of running technologies. These aspects are the decider on whether the products success will weigh up to its ideas.

The Puma Disc system was built to create a more uniformed amount of pressure, helping with the fit and feel of the shoe to hold the wearers foot in place.

U.S. Patent June 2, 1992 - 'Shoe with flexible upper material provided with a closing device.'

The brand also had some highlights with this model, but that wasn’t until a year later when Puma won the Long jump, 5,000m and 100m, with 3 of their athletes all wearing Puma Disc spikes at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. - The 100m winner being the UK athletics legend Linford Christie.

The original concept for disc technology came from inventor Robert Schoch in 1974. It was originally targeted for Ski Boots and offered a much smaller capacity of functionality compared to the disc and today’s version. The name given to the mechanism at the time was the Geneva Wheel.

U.S. Patent May 7, 1974 - 'Closure device for shoes, particularly for ski boots.'

Photographers Featured:

Tom Silvester - @aintfussed