By granting four Gen-Z ‘voices’ access to its sustainability endeavours, Puma believes it has fostered a dialogue aimed at “sharing new perspectives, insights, and suggesting improvements along the way.”

Launched in April 2023, Puma’s Voices of a Re: Generation initiative brought three of the voices on a journey to Puma’s manufacturing partners to learn about the complexities and advancements of sustainability at scale.

Equipped with cameras, the resulting video series, led by Luke Jaque-Rodney, Jade Roche, and Andrew Burgess aimed to take a look at the social and environmental aspects of the garment industry.

Through direct engagement with factory owners and garment workers, the voices shed light on Puma’s initiatives such as building relationships with unions, fair-price shops, childcare facilities and machinery upgrades.

Accompanied by key Puma executives and experienced journalists, Jaque-Rodney and Roche documented their experiences at Puma’s Tier 1 and 2 apparel and footwear suppliers in Bangladesh and Vietnam including DBL Hamza Textiles Ltd, DBL Jinnat Knitwears Ltd, and Urmi Fakhruddin Textiles Ltd in Bangladesh, as well as Dai Loc Shoe Corporation and Alliance One Apparel Co., Ltd in Vietnam.

At the same time, Burgess focused on factories in Türkiye.

The films included a portrayal of working conditions in Bangladesh and Vietnam via worker interviews, visual narratives aimed at reshaping perceptions in Bangladesh and Vietnam and Puma’s plans to scale up circular textile technology in Türkiye.

Anne-Laure Descours the chief sourcing officer at Puma said: “Puma has a long history of reporting on our sustainability performance, but it is more important than ever to engage younger generations in sustainability decisions. We hope that by inviting our ‘voices’ to experience our supply chain we’re able to share the genuine progress and passion that our suppliers have invested as well as the realities and challenges we face in our efforts to improve.”

Earlier this month Puma announced the commercial launch of its experimental Re: Suede 2.0 sneaker following a two-year pilot project, where it demonstrated the successful composting of its sneaker under specialised industrial conditions.