At PUMA, we believe that our position as the creative leader in Sportlifestyle gives us the opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to a better world for the generations to come. A better world in our vision—PUMAVision—would be safer, more peaceful, and more creative than the world we know today. The 4Keys is the tool we have developed to help us stay true to PUMAVision, and we use it by constantly asking ourselves if we are being Fair, Honest, Positive, and Creative in everything we do. We believe that by staying true to our values, inspiring the passion and talent of our people, working in sustainable, innovative ways, and doing our best to be Fair, Honest, Positive, and Creative, we will keep on making the products our customers love, and at the same time bring that vision of a better world a little closer every day.

Through the programs of puma.safe (focusing on environmental and social issues), puma.peace (supporting global peace) and puma.creative (supporting artists and creative organizations), we are providing real and practical expressions of this vision and building for ourselves and our stakeholders, among other things, a more sustainable future.

The PUMA Lacelet Lounge at THE LIFT made a special appearance at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Between January 22 and 26, celebrities got the opportunity to design and create their own PUMA Lacelets. PUMA Lacelets are collectable shoelaces featuring patterns from world-renowned artist Kehinde Wiley that can be used in the traditional sense or to create a variety of unique designs.  PUMA and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced the ‘Play for Life’ partnership earlier this month to support the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity by raising awareness about habitat and species conservation and specific initiatives in Africa for 2010.  The celebrity designed Lacelets will be auctioned off to support biodiversity programs worldwide, through the help of UNEP.   In addition, PUMA will be making a further donation to these programs in the names of those who attended the festival…

Puma Unveils World’s First Continental Football Kit to Support this Global Cause

NAIROBI, KENYA / HERZOGENAURACH, GERMANY (6 January 2010) – PUMA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) were joined today by the Indomitable Lions –Cameroon’s national football team – with team captain Samuel Eto’o, to announce a strategic partnership to support biodiversity worldwide and specific initiatives in Africa.

The ‘Play for Life’ partnership will support the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity by raising awareness about habitat and species conservation among football fans and the general public during worldwide football events, including the Orange Cup of African Nations in Angola later this month and international friendly games leading up to the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. With 12 African football team sponsorships to its name and a history of innovation with Africa, PUMA is uniquely positioned to help drive this effort with UNEP.

The International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) is a global initiative launched by the United Nations for 2010 to help raise awareness on the importance of biodiversity and to encourage worldwide action to conserve plants and animals and the environments in which they live. The ‘Play for Life’ campaign focuses on Africa, a continent that hosts exceptional biodiversity including two of the five most important wilderness areas on Earth – the Congo Basin, and Miombo-Mopane Woodlands and Savannas of Southern Africa. Nine of the planet’s 35 Biodiversity hotspots, the richest and most threatened reservoirs of plant and animal life on Earth, are also in Africa. To read more about Biodiversity click here

According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), biodiversity is under threat around the planet – we are creating the greatest extinction crisis since the natural disaster that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Species have been disappearing at up to 1,000 times the natural rate, and this is predicted to rise dramatically. Based on current trends, an estimated 34,000 plant and 5,200 animal species - including one in eight of the world’s bird species - face extinction.

At their ‘Play for Life’ press conference held today in Nairobi, Kenya, PUMA unveiled their key fundraising lever, the revolutionary new Africa Unity Kit –the world’s first ‘continental football kit’ designed to be worn by the 12 African football national teams that PUMA sponsors. These include the World Cup qualified teams Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Algeria who are headed to the Africa Cup of Nations’ with hosts Angola and the national teams of Egypt, Mozambique, Togo and Tunisia, as well as non-qualified federations of Senegal, Morocco and Namibia. Puma also sponsors some of the continent’s best players — Samuel Eto’o, Emmanuel Eboué and John Mensah.

Samuel Eto’o, John Mensah and Emmanuel Eboué

The Africa Unity Kit has been approved by FIFA who have officially recognised it as the Official 3^rd kit* to be worn by those PUMA-sponsored African teams.

This is the inspiration behind the Unity Kit design:

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With all eyes on Africa during the 2010 football season– the Africa Unity Kit makes a compelling global statement. By supporting the Africa Unity Kit, African teams are not only uniting as a powerful force in world football, but also raising awareness of the importance of environmental issues. PUMA’s profits from sales of the replica fanwear for the Unity Kits will help fund biodiversity programs in Africa, and in particular endangered species on the continent such as lions, elephants, gorillas and the desert fox.

The sportlifestyle company has a host of other gear designed to generate additional funds to support biodiversity, including PUMA Unity t-shirts and PUMA Lacelets, collectable shoe laces featuring patterns from world-renowned artist Kehinde Wiley. These products all bear the PUMA Yellow “life” Label, which gives consumers an easy way to identify products that benefit projects supported by PUMAVision, PUMA’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program. A portion of the profits from the Yellow “life” label products will also go to fund the biodiversity programmes.

“In 2010, Africa will be at the centre of the footballing world. The ‘Play for Life’ campaign and the release of the Africa Unity Kit is a powerful statement for PUMA. PUMA is creating a unique kit embracing the diversity of African Nations teams while valuing the unity of players and supporters towards a common goal,” said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO, PUMA AG who helped launch the Africa Unity Kit. “Biodiversity and therefore valuing and protecting all life on our planet is a huge issue, not only in Africa, but around the world - and we are proud to partner with UNEP to raise both awareness and funds through the sale of our Unity products.”

“As the whole planet comes together for the World Cup, 2010 marks the year when people around the world will unite to conserve the planet’s almost priceless natural resource - its biodiversity. UNEP is delighted to partner with PUMA to bring this important message to millions of fans,” said Angela Cropper, UNEP’s Deputy Executive Director, at the press conference today.

“The planet’s living organisms are the building blocks of the multi-trillion dollar services– from freshwater to agricultural nutrients–that underpin all life on Earth including its economic, social and sporting life. Bringing together the public’s global passion for football with its global passion for animals, plants and other life-forms surely makes a match-winning team,” she added.

Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO, PUMA AG; Samuel Eto and Angela Cropper, Deputy Executive Director, UNEP

Cameroon’s captain Samuel Eto’o, flanked by fellow squad members at the unveiling in Nairobi, commented: “The new Africa Unity Kit has inspired me and my teammates. Not only are we very proud to wear a shirt that helps bring the continent of Africa together but to do so for such an important cause is truly an honour. Supporting the Africa Unity Kit sends out a positive message for Africa – we are a uniting as a continent to help life and the planet.”

The “Unity kit” will carry PUMA’s Yellow ‘life’ Label

The UNEP-PUMA ‘Play for Life’ campaign will support the International Year of Biodiversity by:

- Raising awareness worldwide about biodiversity and the International Year of Biodiversity among football fans and the general public during football events including the African Nations Cup and international friendly games

- Raising awareness through Public Service Announcements featuring football stars

-  Encouraging the public to take action to conserve biodiversity

- Raising funds through the Africa Unity Kit and other PUMA Unity football products under the Yellow “life” label to support biodiversity projects in Africa.

Please Visit: www.pumafootball.com, www.unep.org, http://vision.puma.com

The Sportlifestyle company PUMA has issued its fifth sustainability report, giving an in-depth and transparent view of PUMAVision, the concept that unites PUMA’s corporate social responsibility activities and initiatives, guiding its work, partnerships and engagement worldwide.  

The 121-page document covers the reporting period 2007/2008 and has exclusively been published online for environmental reasons. It details PUMA’s progress to enhance working and social standards in its supply chain, build capacity at its suppliers’ factories, broaden its range of sustainable products and reduce the company’s environmental footprint through the PUMAVision category puma.safe. It furthermore outlines PUMA’s activities in supporting artists and creative organizations through the category puma.creative and its initiatives to support global peace through puma.peace. 

The full report is available online at: http://safe.puma.com/us/en/  

“Our 2007/2008 PUMAVision Sustainability Report is a testament to the fact that we at PUMA do not simply talk about sustainable development, we take action,” said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of PUMA. “We are proud of our successes over the years and of our commitment to sustainability and the highest ethical standards, but realize that when it comes to corporate responsibility, there is and will always be room for improvement. Now, more than ever, we are deepening our commitments and dedicating ourselves to a strategy that sees the ‘whole’ as a sum of its parts—our PUMAVision. As we work towards a safer, more peaceful, and more creative world, we will continue to expand our outreach as corporate global citizens beyond the boundaries of business, not only for the benefit of our stakeholders, but for all.” 

 Highlights of the visually appealing document include:  

• A portrait of the concept PUMAVision  
• A transparent description of PUMA’s response to the challenges it faces in its supply chain operations, capacity building projects and brand collaboration initiatives  
• The expansion of PUMA’s range of sustainable products through Fair Trade footballs and apparel from “Cotton Made in Africa”  
• A detailed account of PUMA’s numerous initiatives to protect the environment, including the progress on reaching targets of a 25% reduction of energy and water consumption as well as waste creation for offices by 2010 and decreasing its carbon footprint  
• An outline of PUMA’s worldwide activities in cooperation with the charity organization “Peace One Day” to raise awareness for global peace  
• An account of its sponsorship of the art exhibition 30 Americans to support the work of 31 African-American artists  
• A recap of PUMA’ numerous projects on the African continent

The report has been certified by TÜV Rheinland, which “is confident that PUMA AG operates a meaningful and adequate system to collect, measure, control and steer their sustainability activities and that the PUMA 2007/2008 Sustainability Report presents information and facts that give a realistic impression on the sustainability performance of the company.”  

The Global Reporting Initiative has reconfirmed an A+ rating for the document.  

PUMA’s endeavours to enhance its social and environmental standards are ongoing. The Sportlifestyle company endorses the campaign “Seal the Deal!” led by the United Nations. This campaign aims at strengthening political will and public support for reaching a comprehensive global climate agreement at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009 to help prevent global warming and further climate change. As a participant in the Carbon Disclosure Project, PUMA is actively working on reducing its direct and indirect climate gas emissions. 

PUMA is committed to working in ways that contribute to the world by supporting creativity, sustainability and peace, and by staying true to the values of being Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative in decisions made and actions taken. The foundation for our activities is PUMAVision—a concept that guides our work with its three core programs, puma.creative, puma.safe and puma.peace. 

PUMAVision provides our company, our employees, and all of our stakeholders with the 4Keys—Fair, Honest, Positive, and Creative. These 4Keys act as a compass that always keeps us true to our vision of a better world—PUMAVision—guiding all of our decisions, actions, processes and practices.

We at PUMA use the 4Keys as a tool, which means always doing our best to be Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative in everything we do. These 4Keys represent, in the broadest possible sense, how PUMAVision works. We measure our thinking, our decisions, our actions, and our processes against these values by asking ourselves if what we are doing is Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative. Making PUMAVision work for us and for the world in which we operate—across our workplaces in so many countries—means using the 4Keys everyday and in all that we do. But what do these words really mean?

FAIR

At PUMA, fair means balanced. It means we see both sides, and resist the pressures that can push us into extreme ways of thinking, working or living. It also means we are open to all, and refuse to discriminate against people or make judgments based on gender, race, religion, political persuasion, sexual preference, or way of life. And being fair means listening as much as we talk, and giving back as much as we take.

HONEST

Honest means sincere. It means not faking it, walking the walk as much as we talk the talk. It means putting our money, our time and our energy where our mouth is. And being honest means admitting our mistakes, and owning up to our responsibilities—something that applies to companies as much as it does to individuals.

POSITIVE

Positive means constructive. It means building things—and people—up, not breaking them down. It means suggesting rather than criticizing, and working for solutions rather than just complaining. It means supporting others when they try, encouraging them when they fail, and celebrating with them when they succeed. It means “we can” more often than “we can’t.”

CREATIVE

Creative means imaginative. It means thinking outside the box, or thinking outside the shoebox, as the case may be. Being creative means finding a way around a problem, rather than stopping when the walls are too high. It means looking at new ways, listening to new ideas and trying new strategies. It means striving for the most innovative solution because just being good enough is never good enough. Being creative means having dreams, and then making those dreams real things, in our individual worlds, in the PUMA world, in the real world.

Greg David Roberts, activist and author of the book Shantaram, speaks about how he worked with PUMAVision to define the 4Keys:

The 4Keys apply as much to the decisions and actions of the CEO as they do to our retail team members who interact with our customers. In fact, it applies to everyone in our company. Eventually, PUMAVision and its guiding compass of the 4Keys will become an instinctive way of thinking for PUMA as we work towards making our contribution towards a better world.

puma.safe works to create decent work in decent workplaces

Under this banner, we are bringing together all of our longstanding work on environmental issues and decent work in decent workplaces, and combining it with new initiatives that will drive us to cleaner, greener, safer and more sustainable systems and practices. Imaginative solutions are found in every aspect of production for our Sportlifestyle products, from the sourcing of raw materials through the Cotton Made In Africa campaign, which has seen excellent results for subsistence farmers in Africa, to building the capacity of our suppliers. In addition, transparent and constructive dialogues with stakeholders, supplier partners, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Fair Labor Association have ensured that our PUMA Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct are observed, verified and monitored in workplaces worldwide. puma.safe will continue to work toward reducing our carbon footprint, developing new sustainable products, and raising work and production standards worldwide.

puma.peace supports One Day One Goal matches across the globe

Through the puma.peace program, PUMA continues its support of the United Nations Global Cease-Fire Day and the non-profit organization that inspired it, Peace One Day. PUMA supported the Peace One Day documentary, which was filmed partly in Afghanistan with peace activist Jude Law and screened in major cities around the world including Cannes, London and New York. In 2008, we launched One Day One Goal, a global football movement that celebrated Peace Day with goodwill football matches played around the world, in many cases between communities previously in conflict. In its first year, the One Day One Goal campaign held over 180 peace games. Now in it’s third year puma.peace and One Day One Goal will see  matches played in all 192 UN member states. puma.peace will continue to develop initiatives that promote and support peace across the globe.

As a company, if the choice we have is between making the world better or worse, then we believe it is important to do our best to ensure that what we do contributes in a positive way. After all, a better world is better for our business, our stakeholders, and our consumers, not only for today but for tomorrow, too.

For a long time now, PUMA has been engaged in the type of environmental and social initiatives that come under the heading “Corporate Social Responsibility.” As I reflected on our history of engagement and our successes throughout the years, I came to realize that, despite our company-wide commitment to sustainability and the highest ethical standards, there was still room for improvement. Now more than ever, we at PUMA are committed to a strategy that sees the “whole” as a sum of its parts. Based on this tenet, as we move towards a safer, more peaceful, and more creative future, our social engagement—what I call “corporate social opportunity”—will strive to extend beyond the boundaries of business, not only for our stakeholders, but for all of us.

With this in mind, we have redefined PUMA’s core corporate values, identifying those principles that will act as a compass to guide us along our roadmap. These principles are called the 4Keys and come from the heart of PUMAVision—Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative. We have also selected core categories through which we will strategically focus our energy and resources in the future. What we aspire to is a PUMA community defined by these shared principles. fueled by the momentum and energy of our individual and collective passions, and deeply engaged in the world. In essence, what we strive towards is to stay true to PUMAVision—our vision of a better world that will guide our work, our partnerships and our engagements worldwide. Through PUMAVision, our actions, decisions, practices, and processes will be guided by the 4Keys principles of being Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative, translating what we believe in, into meaningful connections with each other and the world around us. As real and practical expressions of PUMAVision, we are also giving a special focus to three core categories that are inspired by our vision of world that is safer, more peaceful and more creative. Through the programs of puma.safe (focusing on environmental and social issues), puma.peace (supporting global peace), and puma.creative (supporting artists and creative organizations), PUMA is bringing together all of our long-standing work in creativity, on environmental issues and on decent work in decent workplaces. Through PUMAVision, we will continue to drive our business towards cleaner, greener, safer and more sustainable systems and practices.

- Jochen Zeitz, CEO and Chairman of PUMA

puma.creative supports art organizations, artists, projects and exhibitions

Our puma.creative initiatives aim to bring together individual artists and organizations, and provide them with a platform for creative exchange and international exposure. The first puma.creative project was the support of the exhibition “30 Americans” at the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, Florida, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2008. Both Art Basel Miami Beach and the important “30 Americans” exhibition challenged our understanding of the synergy between art and design, music, style, and fashion, and was a perfect fit for the expression of PUMAVision’s creative initiative. The sponsorship of Hussein Chalayan’s retrospective at the Design Museum in London further grounded puma.creative’s serious commitment to supporting art and culture. In London we also sponsored the Central Saint Martins graduate fashion show and subsequent auction benefiting the PUMA Central Saint Martins Bursary Award. puma.creative collaborated with Africa Express hosting a free public music concert in Paris showcasing over 125 artists to an audience of over 16,000 people–also featured on an “Africa Express presents…” CD/DVD. We established and continue to develop the Creative Africa Network (CAN), an online social networking website and cultural directory that enhances, celebrates and honors existing African and Africa-related cultural networks within and beyond the continent. This has expanded to include the CAN Ambassador awards, awarded to 20 individuals in 2009 for dedicated service to the arts, as well as Mobility Grants providing 40 artists with travel opportunities to participate in important cultural activities. As part of our commitment to a more creative world, PUMA will continue to support artists, art projects, and exhibitions globally through puma.creative.