I sold them all and kind of regretted selling the Nike and the Reebok. As for the Puma, I can't say anything good about the shoes.
I really hated this pair of Puma. I thought I would love them as I loved them back in the late 90's. I had a few pairs of these Puma shoes when I was in a high school. When I was a young boy, I thought they were super comfy, but now I think they are super heavy and hard on my feet (feet-destroying shoes).
I honestly think any work boots like Red Wing or Nicks are much comfier than those Puma Cell Aliens retros (nothing like the OG).
Also, the material quality is very bad on this specific pair of Puma as with almost all the 90's dad shoes retros.. The Suede is fake, the Puma air unit (the red area) is hard plastic (and no more Cell or Air unit inside), and they feel very hard (not just firm but hard, think about the feel of wearing the Metcon 8 or 9) and rigid. No cushion at all. I really hated the ride of this specific pair of Puma shoes, but I thought I would never be able to sell them, so kept them till the last May. But I found a person collecting those and sold them to him for 45 dollars or so and he agreed to cover the shipping to Canada.
It was very cheap, but I bought them for 30 dollars back in 2019 or so anyway. Nothing to lose on them (nothing to gain on them either, though), so I accepted that price.
The Nike pair was very cool in person and felt very comfy, but a bit too small and I had to return these for exchange, but Nike did not have any bigger size for this colorway.
The Reebok pair in this set is very good, very comfy shoes with lots of newer tech like Floatrideenergy G foam. I should have kept them for long walk and hiking.
UPDATE: here's why I do no longer buy Puma products now.
Do not get me wrong, I still really love Puma products and like to buy their products more often, so I am definitely a Puma hater. I think they have serious internal problems and they do not let me finish my shopping session anytime I try shopping something at their online store. Many times, I complain about this issue to their CS team here, but they never seem to fix my issue for me. One time, in this summer, they gave me a coupon code and free shipping code as their way of apology to my problem at Puma shop here, though the codes did not work, and I could not even check out on Puma app. So, I could not purchase the Velophasis Phase and a few days after that my favorite colorway Mexican Chillie sold out. I complained about that in this September, then they again gave me some discount and free shipping codes and this time they worked, though still could not check out at their Online Shop here. So, I called their CS and asked about the reason why I could not complete my shopping session both on their app or their site. They told me the VPN app and my credit cards were the main issues, well. So, I turned my VPN off on my phone and I tried to use a different payment method, still could not complete the shopping session. At this point, I was kind of furious, and I knew my cards were all fine, nothing wrong with them at all as I could buy anything with them on my airline site, Nike, Adidas, NB, Reebok, Zara, Levi's, Apple, Dell, MS, etc. Only Puma does not accept me and my main Apple or MS account. So, I tried to use my other Apple account and buy a hoodie as they had a big sell like "already 50 percent off and at the cart extra 40 percent off". I order the thick heavy cotton hoodie with a pair of Velophasis Luxe Brown red colorway, still at the cart, I was rejected with the infamous error code 404 bad request. And I sent an email about that with a few screen shots of my issues, they again blamed my issues on my VPN service, but at Adidas and Nike I did not have any issue like that at all. Also, at Bangkok Airway site, I had no issue at all. At this point, I started to suspect they have some serious issues. And now I only buy Puma products with cash on arrival payment option (directly pay some cash to the driver on arrival). Using cards or bank transactions at Puma is risky, they have lots of issues that they cannot fix soon. And their App is really laggy and unreliable. And no amount of Google or Bing search works as they all link the issue to the specific app issue or phone issue. I am sure it is not that sort of issue, but it is their account processing or managing issue. If only the app issue, then I can buy it on my other phone or from my PC or Mac, but I cannot. So, I don't know my issues are serious international issues of Puma, or just limited to Puma Japan site, but they have serious issues.
That is the main reason why I have been avoiding shopping at Puma site here.
Then another more practical reason why I decided not to use their site.
They've had reward system here called Puma rewards and member class ranking system; one reviews you write give you 100-400 points, every 5000 yen or more purchase give you about 500 points and you can collect the points and use that for your next purchase or just collect the points to level up yourself at their reward system. I was platinum class at the time they fucked my account for no reason, I had about 400 US worth rewards linked to my Apple account, and I could use that for my sneaker or hoodie purchase at Puma site here. I really like their heavy weight hoodies and every autumn I buy a couple of them; I buy some Puma winterized boots every year, but this year, they do not allow me to use my Puma rewards collected over the last three years as I cannot sign into my Puma account liked to one of my few Apple accounts.
It is not only my issue, but many people having the same issue here. I know many people are losing their Puma rewards they have collected over the last few years because they cannot log into their account there.
Meanwhile, Adidas started new member rewards system, and according to their ranking system I am a Gold or level 4 of the 5, so I have lots of points that I can use as money to buy some shoes or shorts or whatever, and I love Adidas Hoodies, down jackets, shorts and gym compression pants, and they have been having crazy member only sells here, so I bought lots of stuffs. Then, Nike started their Member only extra 30 percent off sale, so I ordered the airmax 1 PRM Baltic Blue and P6000 pure Platinum. NB also had a couple of sells in this autumn, and I believe I bought a several pairs of shoes and a hoodie from them.
In the last two weeks of September, Asics had a big sell, and I tried their Gel Lyte 3 Autumn pack and Gel Lyte 5 Denim Pack, and they did not give me much discount on these.
After that, Reebok had crazy sells (a few big sells) and I bought some Instapump Fury OG pairs, Nano X3 and Nano X2 Adventure TR, and some sweatshirts, so at this point, I don't have much shoe money left for Puma.
And every time I recall how rude Puma CS team here was and how they treated me (as though I was a bad complainer), I just could not spend much money on anything they sell. It is just very risky. And psychologically accepting them is so tough now. Honestly, just a New CEO can screw a great and reputable company like Puma this much is amazing. Their old CEO now works at Adidas was great, but the new one?
Now every time I try to shop on Puma site, their app or their site always crash, never let me finish viewing all shoes at once. It really frustrates me, and I just think better giving up shopping on Puma app or their site altogether.
Now, I'd rank these shoe companies by their customer service and reward system here. Last year, Nike was the no1 and the Puma and the NB were close second here.
But this year it changed a lot:
1 Nike (it seems never change)
2 Adidas (their new CEO seems great, and their new member reward system is fantastic).
3 NB (similar to Adidas they have a great reward system with always free shipping deal).
4 Reebok (they've improved it a lot, this year their customer relation is far better than in last year, also they have some great member reward system).
5 Asics (now their rewards and CS seem to be a lot better than the last time I shopped at their Online Store in 2016).
6 Saucony (similar to Asics).
7 Hoka
8 Puma (by far the worst of all).
I think the former CEO of Puma now works at Adidas is great.
He has changed Adidas dramatically and now they seem to actually listen to us customers. Also, Adidas allows us to use many payment methods. They have fixed all their known issues. And if you use member rewards and sales effectively, they are the cheapest of all the major sneaker brands.
I can easily get their ZX8000 Special Edition German Flag colorway for about 8000 yen. At Nike similar pair usually costs like 11200 yen or more even on sale. At NB even a bit more, however, I have lots of NB rewards, so the end price at NB checkout usually lower than at Nike or even at Puma.
So, for me Puma seems to be the most expensive sneaker brand and not worth the time navigating their laggy crazy unstable APP and site.
