Puma’s Footwear Sales Fell 11.7% — And Management Called It Progress

There is a moment in every corporate turnaround where the numbers get worse before anyone can prove the plan is working. Puma is living in that moment, and its second quarter puts the discomfort on full display.

The German sportswear group reported sales of €1.69 billion, down 9.4% currency-adjusted and 9.7% as reported. Footwear — the category that matters most to this industry — fell 11.7%. Accessories fell 12.0%. Apparel proved most resilient at a 4.3% decline.

CEO Arthur Hoeld’s response was not to apologise for the numbers but to reframe them: “Operationally, we took significant steps towards a structurally healthier business model in the second quarter by reducing inefficiencies, optimising our cost base and improving our organisational setup. Together with our brand-led approach these changes are the foundation for future growth.”

Whether that holds up depends entirely on which numbers you look at.

The Case for Concern

Regionally, the decline was broad and deep. The Americas fell 15.4% currency-adjusted — the steepest drop. EMEA fell 12.9%. Only Asia/Pacific grew, up 8.6%.

A 15% decline in the Americas is difficult to explain away as a reset effect. That is Puma’s most competitive market, the one where Nike, adidas, New Balance and On are all fighting for the same shelf space and the same consumer. Losing that much ground in a single quarter risks distribution relationships that take years to rebuild.

Adjusted EBIT deteriorated to -€41.9 million from -€24.5 million, as lower sales more than offset margin gains. The company attributed the broader weakness to softer consumer demand in key regions amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, alongside the continued implementation of its reset measures.

The Case for Patience

Three numbers argue the other way.

Gross profit margin rose 180 basis points to 48.0%, helped by lower sourcing costs, favourable currency effects and product mix — despite negative effects from range changes. Rising gross margin during a volume collapse is unusual and suggests Puma is not buying its way to sales through discounting.

Reported EBIT improved sharply to -€53.1 million from -€109.1 million a year earlier, reflecting substantially lower one-off costs from the cost efficiency programme. The restructuring bill is shrinking, which means the restructuring is progressing.

And inventories fell 15.3% year-on-year to €1.82 billion, as the company continues its inventory reduction programme through lower purchasing volumes.

That last figure deserves the most weight. Excess inventory is the mechanism by which sportswear brands destroy themselves — it forces discounting, discounting trains consumers to wait for sales, and waiting for sales destroys full-price demand permanently. Puma taking €330 million of inventory out of the system while holding gross margin is the single most credible piece of evidence that the reset is real.

What Falling Purchase Volumes Mean Upstream

For suppliers, the inventory line is the one to watch, and not in a comforting way.

Puma is explicit that inventory reduction is being achieved through lower purchasing volumes. That flows directly to footwear manufacturers in Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Bangladesh, and through them to leather, synthetic and component suppliers. A brand with €1.69 billion in quarterly sales cutting orders is a material demand event for a supply chain that has already absorbed a flat 2025 in global footwear production.

The compounding problem is timing. Suppliers who invested in capacity and materials on the strength of 2023–24 order books are now facing reduced allocations at the same moment that raw material costs — particularly hides, given tight US cattle supply — are moving against them. Squeezed from both sides is a familiar position for contract manufacturers, and rarely a survivable one for the weakest players.

Guidance Held, Which Is Itself a Statement

Puma maintained its full-year 2026 guidance: currency-adjusted sales declining by a low- to mid-single-digit percentage, with EBIT between -€50 million and -€150 million, including the effects of the cost efficiency programme.

For the half, sales were down 5.2% currency-adjusted and 7.9% in euro terms. Holding a low-to-mid-single-digit full-year decline after a 9.4% second quarter implies management expects the back half to be considerably better than the first.

That is a bet on comparisons easing and reset measures completing rather than on demand recovering. It is not an unreasonable bet, but it leaves no margin for another quarter like this one.

The Honest Assessment

Puma is doing the right operational things — clearing inventory, protecting margin, cutting structural cost — at a moment when the brand itself has lost heat. Operations can be fixed with discipline. Desirability cannot.

The apparel-versus-footwear split hints at where the real problem sits. Apparel held up reasonably well; footwear, where the brand competes most directly on innovation and cultural relevance, fell hardest. That is a product and positioning issue, and no amount of inventory management solves it.

The foundation Hoeld describes may well be real. The building has yet to appear.

Source: World Footwear

TL;DR

Puma’s Footwear Sales Fell 11.7% — And Management Called It Progress There is a moment in every corporate turnaround where the numbers get worse before anyone can prove the plan is working. Puma is…

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Puma’s Footwear Sales Fell 11.7% — And Management Called It Progress There is a moment in every corporate turnaround where the numbers get worse before anyone can prove the plan is working.

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Puma’s Footwear Sales Fell 11.7% — And Management Called It Progress There is a moment in every corporate turnaround where the numbers get worse before anyone can prove the plan is working.

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Puma’s Footwear Sales Fell 11.7% — And Management Called It Progress There is a moment in every corporate turnaround where the numbers get worse before anyone can prove the plan is working.

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Puma’s Footwear Sales Fell 11.7% — And Management Called It Progress There is a moment in every corporate turnaround where the numbers get worse before anyone can prove the plan is working.

Key Takeaways

Puma’s Footwear Sales Fell 11.7% — And Management Called It Progress There is a moment in every corporate turnaround where the numbers get worse before anyone can prove the plan is working. The implications extend across the leather, tannery, and footwear value chain—signals that buyers, suppliers, and investors should track closely.

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