Last week, I flew across the world—close to 7000 miles—from New York City to Seoul, South Korea, for one purpose and one purpose only. I went to see the sneakers that insiders are already calling the next Speedcats aka the viral low-profile sneakers that Puma rereleased at the end of 2024. Spotted on Emily Ratajkowski, Gracie Abrams, Dua Lipa, Jennifer Lawrence, and more, the Speedcats have been on the tip of every sneaker lover’s tongue (and in their closets) ever since they debuted. Now, another style from Puma’s archive is set to usurp the motorsport-inspired silhouette, and I, for one, was dying to get the 411 before anyone else.
Sleep-deprived and slightly numb, I arrived in Seoul following a 20-hour travel day ready to see what all the hype surrounding the new-and-improved H-Street sneakers was about.
(Image credit: @elizagracehuber)
First things first, a bit of background: The H-Street dates back to the early 2000s, when Puma reinvented its 1990s-era Harambee track-and-field performance shoes for the streets. “That’s where the name comes from—H-Street like the Harambee H,” Gregor Abenstein, the head of Puma Select, tells me at the H-Street activation in Seoul’s Seongdong-gu district, the neighborhood often referred to as the Brooklyn of Seoul. According to Abenstein, 2025’s version of the H-Street, which will be released in three colorways on June 28, is essentially a one-to-one design from the original with modernized footwear technology. (By that, I mean it’s lightweight in a barely-there type of way.) “We feel that, from an aesthetic point of view, [the H-Street] is as relevant as it was back then today,” he says.
Of course, a lot of research was involved in Puma’s decision to follow up the Speedcat and the Mostro, another archival style, with the H-Street. While much of this process was based on gut feelings, Abenstein notes that his team at Puma also relies on talking with “the right partners who are a little bit ahead of the trend curves and seeing what they have on their mood boards.” The H-Street was one style that many of these trusted sources were talking about. “If [what they say] confirms our internal gut feelings, then we say, ‘Okay, go for that,'” Abenstein explains.
It’s a very striking color, and we felt like the first color needed to be bold, in your face, and energetic.
Gregor Abenstein, Head of Puma Select
Abenstein’s team settled on Fizzy Green to be the main draw of drop number one, a Brat-like shade that showed up a lot during my short visit to Seoul in the form of apple-flavored cocktails, lace charms, and, of course, the H-Street sneakers themselves. “That’s the OG colorway from back in the day,” Abenstein says. “It’s a very striking color, and we felt like the first color needed to be bold, in your face, and energetic.” The sneakers’ debut will also include two more toned-down color options, black and white, both with silver metallic accents.
Puma was right to push for the electric-green colorway to kick things off, and the anti-basic sneakers quickly became the fan favorite among attendees of the activation, which ran from May 15 to May 18 at Layer 41. Even Rosé wore them, showing up toward the end of our first day on-site in a cropped graphic tee, a matching leather miniskirt and bomber jacket, and lime-green H-Street sneakers, all from Puma. Given the crowd lined up outside waiting for even the slightest glimpse of the Blackpink member, her choosing the vibrant pair over black and white will make it the colorway to beat when the trio drops next month. Itzy’s Yeji and Squid Game‘s Yuri Jo also went with the green, only adding to their appeal and sellout potential.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Sangbok Baek/PUMA)
Puma’s marketing team saw all this coming from a mile away, having learned a fair share about crafting a viral sneaker drop from the meteoric rise of the Speedcat just last year.
“We did quite a lot of work incubating the [Speedcat] franchise, and I think we learned a lot from that—having it included in different editorials to show different ways to showcase the styling of it,” says Christina Mirabelli, Puma’s director of sportstyle marketing. Her team also spent time building up the Speedcat within the fashion space before bringing it to the mainstream and to the consumer. “It had time to breathe—time to grow its own feet and really stand alone,” she says. The brand’s signature red suede pair was seeded to Emily Ratajkowski, who wore them all summer long before the launch, building anticipation. Finally, Mirabelli’s team tapped two of the biggest stars in music, Dua Lipa and Rosé, to headline the campaign.
“We had people calling us at all times, asking for the franchise, and we knew that we had done our due diligence,” she says. The Speedcat’s success wasn’t a fluke. Puma created the trend with skilled marketing tactics, something the brand is hoping to re-create with the H-Street. “For the last three or four months, we have had it popping up in different editorials to make sure that it is slowly getting its turn in the spotlight,” she says. According to Mirabelli, like the Speedcat, distribution for the H-Street will be limited at first. The sneakers will be hard to find, gamifying the task of securing a pair. Everybody will want one, but only a lucky few will actually have their size arrive on their doorstep during the immediate rollout.
Image 1 of 4
“We want the shoe to live longer,” Abenstein says. “We always start with the OG versions, and these are the versions that then, further down the line, are still the shoes that are the most desired.” Over time, in order to keep interest in the H-Street high, Puma will bring iterations. Throughout this summer alone, new styles will be released, including color-blocked pairs in yellow, green, and purple as well as vintage-looking iterations in faded hues and options with Velcro straps. “The main goal of those is to … keep the OG version interesting throughout the whole process,” says Abenstein.
If my Instagram DMs are any indication, interest is already high and unlikely to falter anytime soon. When interested buyers go to snag their favorite colorway upon its arrival this summer but see that their size is sold out, they’ll only want to find it more. When A-list celebrities around the world are spotted in that same desired shoe shade, a very feral feeling will rise to the surface, one I know all too well. We all want what we can’t have, and at least until June 28, no one can have the H-Street sneakers—apart from Rosé and I, a fact that made the 18-hour journey from JFK to ICN all the more worth it (as if the food, culture, shopping, skincare, and 15-step scalp treatment I got during my trip to Seoul with Puma weren’t enough). We have them, and we’ll be wearing them a lot. Soon, so will every cool person you know.
Set your alarms: Puma’s first three H-Street colorways go on sale at 12 a.m. EST on June 28 on Puma.com.
PUMA
H-Street OG Sneakers
Shop more sneakers from Puma’s archive:
PUMA
Speedcat Go Sneakers
PUMA
Mostro Perforated Sneakers
PUMA
Speedcat OG Sneakers
PUMA
Speedcat Ballet Shoes
PUMA
Arizona Nylon Sneakers
PUMA
Speedcat Mid Sneakers
Explore More:
www.whowhatwear.com (Article Sourced Website)
#Cool #Seoul #Calling #Sneakers #Speedcats