adidas and Puma Fooling Around?

It’s gone midday everywhere now, right? Good. We can talk about April Fools jokes.

This year’s first-of-the-fourth frivolity was corking. SquadNumbers.com had a player moving from in goal to outfield as part of an otherwise-factual date-based series - apparently with a dedication to DuoLingo bearing fruit - John Devlin’s True Colours Football Kits and Chris Oakley’s Kitbliss were pooling illustration resources “with the aim of featuring every single kit that’s ever been worn [by] 1 April 2027”, and Drake Ramberg and Andy Bodfish phoned it in a little but still managed to both dupe and entertain thanks to dipping into the past.

I used to like an April Fools joke, with Football Shirt Culture and/or DesignFootball.com - now “Design FC” - putting things out most years. Highlights include an explanation of a jarring pair of Arsenal shorts, Newcastle United being sponsored by Channel 4 - with kit shenanigans ensuing - Celtic kits based on a Picasso painting and a collaboration between adidas and Puma.

That last one actually fooled another well-known kit website. They then tried to style things out - we kept the receipts - but perhaps they were taken in by it because it was so plausible.

Indeed, said website were one of many to run a story in September last year speculating that the two sportswear giants may be about to join forces - in reality, that adidas might buy out their hometown rivals. China’s Anta Sports have since bought a stake in Puma, but that doesn’t mean that a “dasLA”-style reunion was never on the table. After all, the feud that Adolf “Adi” Dassler and Rudolf “Rudi” Dassler had is long as six feet under as the brothers are, so why rule it out?

In fact, some might believe that a soft launch of the merger is, organically or by design, underway. There’s always been overlapping in the respective looks put out by the two Herzogenaurach companies but that’s recently been on steroids.

If it’s not decoration on an adidas gilet looking very Formstrip-y - only less Puma-y, because it *isn’t* split into three parts (!), although it is on a pair of shorts - then it’s those very adidas-y contrast flashes on said gilet, straight from the brand with the three stripes’ 2024-25 football kits, also appearing on Puma teamwear and consequently being sported by the likes of Clyde.

In fairness, Castore have been at that too, but, while three stripes don’t necessarily suggest adidas - O’Neills very much exist - what on Earth were Puma thinking with this Fleetwood Town kit?!

It’s not just me who’s noticed it. I had seen it on release but I was recently reminded of the Puma “Germany” shirt that was given away by a shopping website as an alternative to the official Mannschaft release at the last Euros. “Very dasLA” was the conclusion, particularly due to the number of curves on the flanks. I feel like asking an AI model to provide me with a version of Pep Guardiola’s “TWICE!” GIF in which the Catalan instead holds three fingers aloft - as long as he won’t hold them in front of his face!

It honestly wouldn’t be so great a leap. Employees of the two organisations surely clink steins on a Friday night and they’ve been known to even wear hybrid clothing in a friendly football match. While the speculation may have started with an April Fools joke, many a true word is spoken in jest.

Watch this space...