If you’re tapped into the fashion space, then the names Open YY and Puma will call to mind the hottest sneaker collaboration last year. On the coattails of its success, the two brands have collaborated once more, unveiling a reinterpretation of Puma’s new franchise H-Street. 

The first collaboration, launched in 2024, centred around Puma’s retro Speedcat silhouette. According to the Lyst 2024 Q3 index, the demand for Puma’s Speedcats spiked 532% in August 2024, making it the quarter’s third hottest product. (Here, just take a look at Vogue Editor’s shopping cart for the ultimate indication.) 

This time around, Puma’s track and field legacy merges with OPEN YY’s rebellious yet minimal aesthetic. The H-Street model is offered in three colourways of beige, blue, and white, and features a slim outsole and a detachable tongue embroidered with both brands’ logos. Aside from the reimagined sneaker, the collaboration offers a curated selection of apparel, including a sleek running vest and playful running shorts. 

In anticipation of the collaboration’s global launch, the sisters and co-creative directors of Open YY, Boyoung and Jiyoung Kim, chat with Vogue Hong Kong about their inspirations and favourite products from this collaboration, as well as running Open YY as sisters who are alike in more ways than one. 

The new campaign celebrates the themes of “Everyday” and “Imagination”. Were there moments from your own everyday experiences that influenced this collection?

We’ve always loved the wit and flexibility that fashion can bring. While many brands tend to deliver heavy messages when aiming for sophistication in their campaigns, we believe that true elegance lies in visually expressing the wit and imagination hidden in everyday life.

For this campaign, we explored the idea of “visual illusion” as a technique to playfully reinterpret the possibilities within ordinary objects and situations. That concept came to life through our collaboration with photographer James Grant.

What was the creative process of designing this collection? Were there any learnings from last year’s Puma collaboration that you two applied to this year’s?

Since our latest collaboration, we could feel that more and more people have been looking forward to seeing the two brands come together again, and we’ve truly enjoyed that sense of anticipation.

This time, we wanted to express the feeling of “joy” even more vividly through our collaborative pieces. Rather than simply combining the two brands, we approached the design in a way that invites people to engage and experience it with all their senses.

How did you want to differentiate these H-Street sneakers from last year’s successful first sneaker collaboration?

Our design approach was quite similar, but how we chose the collaboration model was quite different this time.

For our first collaboration, we chose the “Speedcat,” a street icon from the 2000s that was loved by many. In contrast, this time we selected the “H-Street”, which is a personal favourite of ours. It was a more intimate and sincere choice, as we wanted to share our own taste with our fans.