The Story Behind the Borussia Dortmund x PUMA RS-Fast
and soccer have been synonymous for decades, but the Big Cat’s modern partnership with Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga has reset the traditional sponsorship structure. We caught up with Matthäus Franke from BVB to get the inside knowledge on their new RS-Fast collaboration, and to discover why they are one of the biggest clubs in European football.
When did PUMA’s deal with BVB start?
The partnership started in 2012 when the PUMA cat adorned the BVB jersey for the first time and we reached the Champions League final, which we hadn’t done since our win over Juventus Turin in the 1996/97 season. Despite the pandemic, the partnership has just been extended for many more years.
The BVB supporter base is huge!
Dortmund lives and breathes football. You can’t walk a single street without seeing black and yellow everywhere. We are one huge family with strong values and the city stands by the club through good and bad times. Dortmund is a traditional steel manufacturing hub and the locals demand to see this hardworking philosophy on the football pitch. Being a Borussia Dortmund fan is truly intense – we call it ‘Echte Liebe’. We were almost broke and fought back to become champions just six years later. The club has enormous power. We have the highest stadium attendance in Europe and the ‘Yellow Wall’ is the largest grandstand. You have to imagine, just a couple of feet behind the goal are 25,000 unbelievably loud and loyal fans on a 328ft long and 131ft high stand. It’s surreal. In my opinion it doesn’t get any better than that for football fans.
And tell us about the shoe design?
The 1990s were a great time for our club. We won the Bundesliga twice and we also won the Champions League. Reminiscent of that time is the BVB neon yellow. This year we will celebrate the heroes of that era by bringing the neon 90s back but with a modern twist. The era was famous for wide tracksuits and bulky runners so we believe the PUMA RS Fast is a perfect candidate, mixing leathers and mesh on a black-based shoe with subtle yellow highlights. The BVB logo is featured on the insole and we added some camouflage graphics which run through the entire collection.
How can BVB fans cop?
The shoe has just released in very limited quantities alongside a small apparel collection. Make sure you follow and for further details. We also have new kits and fanwear as we always work on exciting ideas for our supporters. It is very important to BVB that we find a certain degree of acceptance in streetwear and that people not only wear our products during games but also as part of their everyday outfits. Therefore, we are working very closely with PUMA on potential collaborations in that area. There is nothing I can share at this stage but there is a lot of exciting stuff happening. Who knows, maybe there will be another surprise!
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