Puma launches women’s capsule collection with Koché

Sportswear brand Puma has launched a performance-orientated capsule collection for women in collaboration with Paris-based label Koché, founded by Christelle Kocher.

The capsule aims to celebrate women “at the intersection of fashion and fitness,” explains Puma in the press release, while offering a “fresh take on empowered activewear that blurs the lines between performance and lifestyle”.

The 15-piece collection spans ready-to-wear, running shoes and accessories, with Kocher applying her couture knowledge to the activewear-oriented pieces by adding criss-crossed lacing elements, tulle, and an embossed lace-inspired motif.

Commenting on the collaboration, Christelle Kocher, said in a statement: “I am a fashion designer, but I am also a physically active woman. I started doing team sports at 8, competing in handball quite seriously until I was 18. Ever since barely a day passes without me doing some form of physical exercise. I run, box and do yoga.

“So, working with Puma on this project gave me a unique, challenging opportunity to bring together my fashion expertise and the kind of technical elements necessary to good performance wear.”

The collection’s design is inspired by timeless staples of feminine fashion, with a focus on comfortable, lightweight, and movement-friendly pieces, in a neo-futuristic palette combining black, burgundy, royal blue and cream with colour-shifting reflective treatments.

Highlights include trousers and windbreaker jackets with criss-crossed lacing elements, tops that mimic corsets through strategically placed stitching, and long-sleeve tulle T-shirts that offer a sense of delicateness to body-shaping silhouettes. There are also leggings decorated with an embossed lace-inspired motif, as well as accessories including a spacious draped gym bag, a running waist bag and two different, classic-cut running shoes.

Kocher added: “We designed these clothes both to help improve performance in exercise and to use as elevated basics mixed with ready-to-wear pieces. Ultimately, though, the collection’s goal is to support women in reclaiming their rightful place in the sports space, and to help motivate them stay active at a time when women are standing out as the movers and shakers in the active industries worldwide.”

This is the second collaboration between the French label and Puma, last year’s the two teamed up with AC Milan football club to rework unsold deadstock merchandise.

The Puma x Koché collection is available at both brand’s websites, Puma’s stores and selected retailers worldwide.