The Clyde

The PUMA Clyde is an unrivalled example of a sneaker that transcends functionality into a pillar of numerous differing cultural movements. To celebrate 50 years of its influence on disciplines, from hip-hop and hardcore music, to breakdancing and basketball, Second Best was tasked with designing a commemorative collaboration for the Clyde.

Second Best’s experimental reconstruction of the Clyde sneaker expresses their novel approach to blending the familiar and visible with the obtuse and shadowed aspects of design. While the shoe’s shape remains true to its roots, exposed needlework and the introduction of rugged Second Best motifs in lieu of the staple gold-foiled and debossed PUMA logo on the sneaker is subtly yet resoundingly transformative. This collision of meticulously crafted design and coarse, grunge informed practice anchored Dorcia’s direction of merging crisp digital film with raw, tactile media.

Employing the visual eye of Hugh Mulhern, the shoe came to life in the campaign through a clash of visual media – weaving stop motion design, 2D and 3D animation, and film editing – with Dorcia entrusted with bolstering the Creative Direction for the campaign from ideation to completion.

The shoe and visual campaign were launched at a three day pop up store on Berwick Street, Soho, introducing the Clyde whilst showcasing Second Best’s wider body of work, with a feature in Puma’s ‘Who’s Who: London Edition’ and art installations from Creative Director Sam Monaghan.