Puma goes big on F1, A$AP Rocky is Creative Director for motorsport category

Sports giant Puma had big news on Monday having signed music artist, creative and designer A$AP Rocky to “a long-term creative partnership”.

The company said A$AP Rocky will serve as the Creative Director for the motorsport category “with a focus on the intersection of the sport and streetwear”.

He’ll “focus his energy and efforts on Puma’s new partnership with F1, developing bespoke capsules designed by him, that will influence the brand’s seasonal design directions moving forward”.

It comes after Puma launched a long-term partnership with F1 earlier this year, becoming the exclusive licensee and trackside retailer at all races. 

Motorsport is a key focus for the fashion and other style-focused sectors at present. Only last week THG announced a deal with Williams Racing. And late last year Italian streetwear brand Palm Angels unveiled a partnership with the US-based Haas F1. Then there’s Boss’s F1 Aston Martin link-up and Castore’s deal with McLaren, among others.

But this latest move from Puma is perhaps the most-headline-grabbing example of the trend, partly due to Puma’s massive size, the fact that it has a wide partnership with F1 as a whole rather than just a single team, and — of course — the involvement of always-newsworthy A$AP Rocky.

Puma said that with years of history and heritage in the sport, it’s “eager to explore the impact that streetwear and fashion can play beyond the track. A$AP Rocky’s fashion knowledge, style and cultural expertise will bring a new perspective to the growing F1 audience”.

So what happens now? “Rocky’s influence on the brand will be phased,” we’re told, “most immediately taking on an incubator-style approach coined ‘in the lab’ to begin creative exploration for where he can take the category”. 

For the remainder of this year, he’ll impact visuals and video content for the brand. 

He’s been working on his first campaign behind the scenes as both creative director and producer. This explores car culture in America and the impact it has on streetwear and fashion.

Then, later this year, Rocky will drop an “extremely limited” Puma x F1 collection. Comprising apparel and accessories, it will “provide a sneak peak into a series of capsule collections in 2024 surrounding high-visibility F1 races”.

His focus next year will be on several Grand Prix races beginning in Miami. 

There will be collections for which he’ll develop the concept and designs (in partnership with the Puma and F1 teams). And he’ll “curate activations at each of the races and serve as the Creative Director for all of the marketing efforts surrounding these collections”.

And the strategy is already developing beyond 2024. By 2025, “Rocky plans to more fully immerse himself into the holistic product creative designs for all of the Puma x F1 product spanning from racewear to fanwear to fashion”.

He’ll continue to participate in marketing in an “ongoing effort to bring disruption to the category via innovative product design and marketing concepts”.

Puma said the company and its new star signing “are eager to expand their audience and tap into the connection between streetwear, fashion and the sport itself”.

And A$AP Rocky added: “Working with brands as iconic as Puma, and as innovative as F1, has been truly inspiring. When the world sees what were doing, I believe a shift will happen with how brands approach taking risks and working with diverse creatives.”

Meanwhile, Oliver Boden, Head of Licensing and Gaming at F1, said: “A$AP Rocky’s creativity and commitment to innovation aligns perfectly with F1’s vision and development in apparel. We look forward to collaborating with him to design and curate the Puma and F1 range and insert F1 into new cultural and lifestyle spaces.”