The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same. It may as well be the mantra of fashion brand Jil Sander, which is heading back to the house's origins even as we enter nearly six decades of the house's existence.

Sander's consistency can be boiled down to a few simple factors but here, let's dial in on its excellent, ahead of the curve PUMA collaboration.

After 27 years, the German luxury label is reaching back in its own archive to reimagine its 1998 PUMA King collab. Jil Sander's PUMA King pioneered designer sneaker collaborations as we know them and it's never been more timely.

The Jil Sander King was a sleek leather football trainer remade as a fashion shoe, a first of its kind concept perfectly executed in the spirit of Sander's pioneering approach to garment design: unfettered simplicity manifested through clean lines and luxe materials. 

Nowadays, luxury-fashion sneaker collabs are inescapable but such was not the case in the ‘90s.

In fact, Jil Sander’s PUMA collab was one of the first luxury athletic collaborations on record, predating similarly prescient partnerships like adidas Y-3 by several years. “We were the first to conceive of a luxury sneaker, Sander said in a 2023 interview. “We opened the door to customisation, limited editions, glamour sneakers. It was the logical next step for the sports industry.”

Building atop the foundation established by that original sneaker collab, Sander's new team-up takes on the PUMA King Indoor silhouette, which wears a flipped-out tongue and itself first debuted in 1999. It returned in 2025, the same year that Sander and PUMA reunite, and Sander has rebirthed it in a simple monochrome colorway epitomized by sumptuously soft leather.

This quietly suave collaborative PUMA King Indoor debuted at Milan Fashion Week as part of Simone Bellotti's first Jil Sander collection. Bellotti, who briefly oversaw Bally before being appointed creative director at Jil Sander in March, represents a return to self for the fashion house, going back to the original house codes that made Sander’s label so forward-thinking: simple, classic elegance.

It aligns with Sander’s original PUMA King, which epitomized just how far the designer was ahead of the curve — the new one, really, does the same.

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