Super Yaya Founder Rym Beydoun on Collaborating With Puma

Rym Beydoun, founder of independent womenswear label Super Yaya, used to wear Puma Speedcat sneakers in the ’90s when she was a kid going to school — now her brand has a collaboration infusing the popular racing shoe with West African cultural heritage and modern femininity.

Brought together by German online retailer Zalando, the first drop of the collection between Super Yaya and Puma will launch on Zalando on April 16 before both drops release on super-yaya.com and at Dover Street Market Paris on April 30.

In conversation with FN, the Ivorian-Lebanese designer and Central Saint Martins graduate spoke about landing on the Speedcat as the silhouette for this collaboration: “There’s something that I quite like with the sole being quite flat. I know it’s been trending recently, but there’s something quite nice about the shape generally — it’s not bulky, it blends in really nicely.”

Beydoun also appreciates that Puma represents the Ivorian soccer team, and the brand has a more understated presence in the fashion landscape.

With the first drop of the collaborative collection, the brands present three colorways of a canvas Speedcat with a tonal polka dot motif which gets inverted on the Formstrip. The unisex color palettes include black and white; blue and green; and brown and almond. Each set includes a set of contrasting laces allowing for a different look.

The second drop, available April 30, showcases a sporty alternative to a dress shoe with a patent leather Speedcat featuring an embossed polka dot design, a motif which showed up in the brand’s spring 2025 collection. Offered in black and plum, both options come with an extra pair of contrasting laces for a variant aesthetic.

Beydoun always finds it important to look into the archives when embarking on a project like this. This ritual sparked inspiration for the designer when she found a black patent trainer at the Puma headquarters which had been designed for Michael Jackson. She shared, “I thought was super cool, because it didn’t look like Puma at all, or it actually didn’t look like sneakers at all. It just looked like a shoe. And I found that was really interesting. I think that’s the starting point for the patent one.”

Beydoun called the polka dot pattern “an old and young motif” which reminds her of her grandmother. While polka dots specifically may not always be an emblematic motif for the brand, the overarching essence speaks to the label: “Being part of West African landscape — like popular culture, streetwear — everything is very much based on color and motif. I think these are two elements that translate a lot throughout the brand.”

The campaign for the collaboration stars South Sudanese-British supermodel and activist Alek Wek, who was lensed in a dance studio setting influenced by the visual language of Mudra Afrique.

When it comes to further exploring footwear at Super Yaya, Beydoun already has ideas: ballerinas, sandals and heels come to mind. There’s even the potential for the brand to team up again with Puma to focus on the ballerina — a style the designer called “very Super Yaya.”