PUMA has signed an agreement with Chinese company Shincell New Materials Co., Ltd. to research and develop the next generation of NITRO, an industry-leading running technology.
As part of the agreement, PUMA and Shincell will set up a dedicated laboratory in Suzhou, China, to test new materials. PUMA expects to launch the first products resulting from this partnership in the upcoming seasons.
“With NITRO we have the best running technology in the industry, and the agreement with Shincell allows us to maintain that edge and make the best even better in future product generations,” said Romain Girard, Vice President Innovation at PUMA.
Shincell is a leader in developing sustainable foaming technologies and manufacturing lightweight high-performance foam materials. The company has specialised in a purely physical foaming process. This process uses gases commonly found in Earth’s atmosphere to expand plastics by trapping large numbers of micro- and nanobubbles within the material.
“This collaboration is a great example showing the value of the technology-focused innovation in the global high-performance sportswear segments. We are looking forward to more business success down the road," said Dr Xiulei Jiang, CEO of Shincell.
PUMA first introduced NITRO in early 2021 as part of a repositioning of its entire performance running segment and has continuously improved the technology since. NITRO is extremely lightweight and responsive, helping runners to use less energy and run comfortably.
PUMA proved the power of NITRO technology during the recent major marathons in Boston, London and New York, when it enlisted more than 250 athletes to test it in its Fast-R NITRO Elite and Deviate NITRO Elite running shoes. Nearly 100 of these runners set new personal bests, with 48 breaking their previous best times by three minutes or more.
Apart from its running performance, NITRO is also used in parts of PUMA’s performance line-up in Training, Football, Basketball, Golf, and other areas.
