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- Puma announced a new partnership with Rihanna on Wednesday.
- Rihanna started working with Puma in 2014 as the creative director of its womenswear business.
- Her return announcement referenced Michael Jordan's infamous return to the NBA in 1995.
The Queen of pop is back at Puma.
Early Wednesday the German sportswear giant announced that Rihanna with be partnering with the brand once more.
It has been almost five years since the singer-turned-entrepreneur released a collection with Puma. It's not yet clear what this collaboration will involve but Puma teased fans on Instagram with a post that said: "She's back," alongside her Fenty brand logo.
The announcement appeared to be a direct callback to basketball legend Michael Jordan's 1995 announcement that he'd return to the NBA after time away from the game playing minor league baseball.
Jordan confirmed his return with a fax simply reading: "I'm back."
Rihanna first started working with Puma in 2014, as creative director for its womenswear business. She spent several years creating both clothing and shoe lines for the brand and led shows at New York Fashion Week. One of her sneaker designs, the Fenty x Puma creeper, was voted shoe of the year by industry news outlet Footwear News in 2016. The site based its winner on retail sales, consumer feedback, and overall buzz, it said.
Since her partnership with Puma ended in 2018, Rihanna has expanded her business empire – launching Fenty Beauty, her Savage X Fenty underwear brand, and in 2019, luxury line Fenty in collaboration with LVMH, which has since closed.
Fenty Beauty, one of her most successful ventures, helped to catapult her into the Forbes billionaires list in 2022. According to Forbes estimates, Fenty Beauty brought in over $550 million in annual revenue just one year after it launched and is currently worth around $2.8 billion.
Puma reported its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. Currency-adjusted sales increased by 21.1% during this period. In a note to clients, Louise Deglise-Favre, an apparel analyst at GlobalData, said that sales growth was partly down to the strength of its partnerships with sports stars and celebrities such as Dua Lipa.