Puma Walt 'Clyde' Frazier

It’s a little after 11:00am and this demure room in New York’s upscale Soho Grand hotel is roaring with laughter. The person on the couch is the center of attention and the reason for the hilarity that has just ensued. “Today’s [basketball] players embellish that money doesn’t give you style,” he observes while gesturing for emphasis. “A lot of these guys have money but they don’t have style. You can’t buy style!” And thus the roaring began. Who is this man? What makes him so qualified to comment on others’ fashion choices? His name is Walt “Clyde” Frazier. And since he gave birth to flamboyant trends decades ago that some are still following today, there’s arguably nobody more appropriate to be critiquing today’s fashion trends than him.

Three models of the shoe — navy in New York, natural in London and orange in Tokyo — dropped in limited numbers in each city. Included in the special sealed From the PUMA Archive box was a certificate of authenticity, shoe care instruction booklet and suede shoe brush. Each package also included a picture of Clyde Frazier sealed in a gold envelope, and one of every 25 was autographed by Clyde himself. After the initial release, the Clyde was sold exclusively at only six other shops in the United States and, with that, the limited edition version came to a close. It was a successful launch and the only one in recent memory to educate its consumers about the history and importance of the product. With the Clyde, PUMA treated it less like a shoe that is was selling than a legend it was revering.

source : sole collector