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This season sees PUMA renew its alliance with world-renowned footwear boogazine Sneaker Freaker, creating the final chapter of an epic collaborative series – the Blaze of Glory ‘Bloodbath’. Joining the project from NYC is celebrated sneaker retailer, Packer Shoes. This story begins back in 2008 after an unlikely incident. An abalone diver was swallowed up to the waist by a great white shark on Australia’s East Coast and amazingly, lived to tell the tale. Sneaker Freaker found its muse and applied the shark inspiration to one of PUMA’s revolutionary archive running models – the Trinomic Blaze of Glory!

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First up was the ‘Great White’ Blaze of Glory’s whose predatory instincts were the perfect vehicle for Sneaker Freaker’s subtle storytelling with colour and texture aspects that elaborated on the theme – silver mesh, blue water pops, an abstract ‘shark bite’ tongue logo and a ‘river of blood’ seemingly trickling from the Trinomic hexagon cells, emphasised by razor-sharp rubber fangs. An anodised shark tooth dangled from the shoes like a souvenir necklace acquired on a beachside summer vacation. The response was phenomenal. Inspired by the positive reception, a second version flipped the silver palette to jet-black, adding a slash of vivid turquoise with hot pink highlights to the man-eating mix. Dubbed ‘Black Beast’, hype around the shoes went into overdrive and the legend continued to grow. Intrigued by the discovery of genuine shark leather at a tannery, Sneaker Freaker sourced the exotic material to create a third installment.

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Blacker than the ace of spades and tougher than teak, shark leather sports a remarkably rugged, wrinkly texture. Just 30 pairs were given away to lucky friends and family. The shark leather is exquisite and prices for those shoes are now well and truly in the unobtainable bracket. They are regarded as one of the most striking and luxurious collaboration releases of all time. In 2013, the partnership was refreshed in honour of the impending five-year anniversary. Redesigned and packaged in an oversize box laced with egg-shell foam, extra insoles and a leather lace pouch, the re-release of the ‘Great White’ and ‘Black Beast’ once again fried the minds of new-gen sneakerheads.

Avery Parker

Dropping at Dover Street Market, Hanon, END and Footpatrol from October 10th. RRP £140.