The Shoe Built to Feel a Brake Pedal

PUMA's best-selling sneaker started as a fireproof racing boot, modeled on one Formula One driver's own shoe — a driver who never lived to see it hit shelves. This week it grows another branch, on a runway, under A$AP Rocky's name.

PUMA's own archive credits one driver's racing boot as the template for the best-selling sneaker the company has ever made: Stefan Bellof's. Through the 1980s PUMA built bespoke shoes for Formula One and sportscar drivers — kangaroo leather or calfskin, fireproof lining, and a sole shaved down almost to nothing, because a driver needs to feel a brake pedal through his foot, not just push it.

On September 1, 1985, in the 1000km of Spa, Bellof went for a pass on Jacky Ickx through Eau Rouge. The two Porsche 956s touched, both went into the barrier, and Bellof died at 27 — a driver widely tipped to become a future world champion.

PUMA kept building the shoe. By 2000 the fireproof lining was gone, the racing leather was suede, and it had a name: the Speedcat. It's sold more than 28 million pairs since — still in PUMA's catalog today, in thirteen colorways.

This week the line grows another branch: A$AP Rocky's version, the Straycat, drops August 27 with a chunky Vibram sole and "Formula Red" trim, unveiled on the AWGE runway under Rocky's actual job title — creative director of PUMA's motorsport business. The thin sole that used to be the whole point, the thing built so a man could feel exactly how hard he was braking, is a fashion detail now.

Found via Sneaker Files.