LCF Students Shortlisted for The Prestigious Puma Design Sprint

Students from selected higher education institutions were recently given the opportunity to apply to Puma for an exclusive place on the Puma Design Sprint, to develop new ideas at Puma's headquarters in Herzogenaurach for two days. The workshop invited the best talent to explore and experiment with their creative ideas. They were guided by PUMAs creative design team, with the theme of the sprint being: “How would you envision sportswear design in the future?”.

Here’s what Romain Girard, Senior Head of Innovation at PUMA SE, had to say on collaborating with LCF

We have been working with many design universities across Europe and we were very impressed by the professionality and level of creativity. We truly believe that it makes sense to build a strong connection between LCF and PUMA creatives and we look forward to continuing the journey in the future!

The brief of the sprint was to look at Sport performance and Sport style and when creating their designs, students were asked to question the story behind the inspiration, the fusion between sport and style and to question key trends and influences. They were also given the opportunity to contribute their own portfolio, promoting their work, talents and skills.

Three LCF students were shortlisted for the Sprint, and although due to Covid-19, the design sprint didn’t go ahead, we wanted to celebrate the achievement. We caught up with MA Fashion Design Management student, Matan Glück, to find out about his thoughts on applying to the sprint, insights on his creations, the inspiration behind his designs and what the future holds for him.

Hi Matan, it's great to talk to you. I hope you are keeping well! I wanted to know, what motivated you to apply to the Puma Design Sprint?

I encountered the Puma Design Sprint by browsing my emails from UAL. One thing I have to mention is that the offers which came across from the school appeal to a wide variety of interests. I found the Puma Design Sprint appealing for a few reasons. The first is just the simple fact that I wanted to get as much experience and try my luck with as many opportunities as possible. This event is something I had yet to experience and to spend two days in one of the leading sports brand’s headquarters, working side by side with industry employees is a rare opportunity, having been confined to college work. Secondly, I am interested in practical fashion and I was highly drawn to applying my fashion knowledge into the sports I practice, Puma seemed like a great fit to gain practical experience with dealing with challenges which are related to performance along with fashion.

Definitely a great platform. So, what was the inspiration behind your designs?

I initially started with looking at my current portfolio. Having already done a Fashion Design BA and working in the industry, I have a pretty structured portfolio. After picking relevant projects to showcase in the application, I worked on a specific design for this application. As a tennis player myself, I decided to create a few tennis designs for Puma as this sport has gotten less focus within the brand. The choice of this sport allows me to combine the two worlds I want to collide - fashion and tennis. The designs were inspired by urban streets and were directed to give a fresh, young Puma mindset to a sport which is attracting young players and is changing its previous high-class characteristics.

I wanted to showcase to Puma what I am capable of offering to their brand in unknown territories

Can you tell us more about the design process?

The design process outlined to us by one of the company’s representatives who visited us in the college to introduce the project was led by Puma’s strive for fashion and performance with focus on how the fusion between sport & style is executed.