PUMA selects Hong Kong for global reveal

Hong Kong was chosen for the global reveal of PUMA’s Fi footwear training shoe last Thursday (January 31, 2019). The event was held at KPMG and live streamed globally. The Fi training shoe was created by new state-of-the-art technology platform Fit Intelligence (Fi) which is designed to automate and finetune performance fit for PUMA footwear.

The PUMA Fi shoe laces itself and adapts to your individual foot. The footwear is run by a micromotor and can be monitored and adapted by a smartphone app. or simply swiping the Fi module on the shoe. Changes can also be monitored with the Apple watch.

Hong Kong was an obvious choice for the event with such a mobile savvy and start-up driven market. And who better to give the first ever pair to try out to ? Bay McLaughlin the tech savvy investor based in Hong Kong was gifted with the task. He shared his insights with a video showing the versatility of the shoe during his working day through to the evening. Bay stated, “As a global investor in wearable technologies, I know how hard it is to get a product like Fi right and after my first week with the shoes, it’s clear that PUMA is taking this platform very seriously and I’m impressed”.

                   Bay McLaughlin speaking at the event

Charles Johnson, Global Director of Innovation PUMA was guest speaker and noted that the shoe is 80% ready for launch but it was important to allow selected tech savvy individuals to provide input for PUMA to fine tune the training shoe to make it the the best smart fitting product in the market. It is expected to launch in 2020. Those selected will be able to give feedback on the usability, design, engineering, and wearability of the shoe. Anyone can sign up for this Fi Beta Test program through PUMATRAC, PUMAs training app – available on the App Store and on Google Play.

“We have created a product that speaks to the future of sport which is life in motion. It’s fast and changing all the time,” Charles added.

                       Charles Johnson, PUMA with Bina Gupta, Innovation Hong King and Emily Choi, InvestHK