Puma bet on volume over heat — then swung to a €644M loss

Puma, the German sportswear brand long ranked third behind Nike and Adidas, swung to a €643.6 million net loss in fiscal 2025 after a painful 'Reset Year' designed to undo the damage from years of promotion-heavy growth. Full-year sales fell 13.1% to €7.3 billion, with Q4 alone dropping 27.2% — the steepest decline in the brand's recent history. Gross margin contracted 260 basis points to 45.2% as Puma liquidated inventory and cut ties with low-quality wholesale accounts.

The crisis was self-inflicted in part. During the post-pandemic sneaker boom, Puma expanded aggressively into mass merchants, outlet channels, and discount-driven sales — chasing volume instead of brand heat. When the market cooled in 2023-2024, those channels became a liability: the brand that had defined streetwear moments in the 1990s (the Suede, hip-hop endorsements) had diluted its image selling through every possible door. By early 2025, inventories were up 17.3% and Puma was discounting heavily to move product.

New CEO Arne Freundt designated 2025 as the 'Reset Year.' The company slashed 1,400 corporate roles — 500 in 2025 and 900 more planned through 2026 — reduced promotions, streamlined distribution, and exited mass-merchant relationships. The results were brutal by design: Puma posted an adjusted EBIT loss of €165.6 million and cancelled its dividend. CFO Markus Neubrand stepped down, replaced by former Hugo Boss CEO Mark Langer in May 2026.

Puma designated 2026 as a 'Transition Year,' forecasting another low-to-mid-single-digit sales decline and an EBIT loss of €50-150 million. The goal is to re-establish growth by 2027 and reclaim a top-three position globally. But analysts noted that the brand had ceded ground not just to Nike and Adidas, but to faster-growing competitors like On, Hoka, and New Balance — brands that had never needed a 'reset year' because they had never chased volume over brand equity.