By: Swamp Yankee

Swamp Yankee — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 07:51:00 +0000

Around 1974 I had a pair of Puma Baskets made in Yugoslavia that were a cross breed between the Baskets and the Suede. The main body of the sneakers was high polished white leather with a high polished black leather stripe but the tongue was a light gray suede leather. I wish I still had those, but I was a 14 year old kid that wore them ’til they rotted off my feet. Then I bought a pair of Adidas Superstars (Shell tops), those were made in France, then I wore those ’til they rotted off my feet. Oh the memories. Most European countries have a long history of being quality boot/shoe makers, and Puma making them in Yugoslavia was like the first stepping stone of lowering costs before finally ending up in Asia like most of the rest. Take for example the Swiss boot maker Raichle, they started spreading their boot making around the ‘poorer’ European countries, Hungary for one, before taking a lot of production to Asia, and now that the Swiss company Mammut has bought them out, they’ve brought some of it back to Europe, and some of their boots are now made in Romania. Some of the best boots in the world are still made in Europe, but you’re gonna pay for them.

By: Eraz

Eraz — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 21:53:00 +0000

My dad had a pair of Yugoslav Clydes in green from 1974 with the distinctive Clyde signature and came in the aqua coloured box similar to the one in the photo but without the Clyde’s photo. I wound up with a pair of Puma Fit because I was in my high school track team and these were based on track shoe lasts. These shoes were sourced Stateside and wound up in Manila. The only thing I can think of why Puma outsourced to Yugoslavia is that at that time, many European countries were investing in Yugoslavia – think of the Yugo car :) btw Puma also had a factory in the Philippines in the 1980s and I think Clydes were produced (if my memory serves me right)

Comments on: PUMA Clyde (Made in Yugoslavia)

By: Swamp Yankee

By: Eraz