Did You Know Michael Jackson Had a Puma Shoe?

If you’re like this author, seeing the Michael movie reignited your love for Michael Jackson. The King of Pop never fully left the cultural zeitgeist, but with his biopic tracking at over $500 million as of this writing, it’s safe to say he’s on the front of millions of minds again. Adding to the ticket sales, his album Thriller, the highest-selling album of all time with over 70 million copies sold, is sitting at number 7 on the Billboard 200 with 45,000 copies sold this last week. But in our sphere of sneakers, Michael Jackson didn’t leave a legacy anywhere near his musical or cultural output. However, a rare pair of Michael Jackson-signed Pumas recently reemerged online.

Major hat tip to Justin Oliver, a Puma collector and historian who goes by the handle just.in.puma online, who posted photos of the shoes and archival images from a German magazine. Upon further research, Puma actually wrote a blog on its archival website and posted on LinkedIn two years ago with information regarding these Michael Jackson Puma shoes.

In their blog post, Puma states that the shoes date back to a 1987 giveaway from German magazine Bravo, which required participants to send in a postcard to win a size 10 pair of shoes signed by Michael Jackson. Doing some digging on our own, we weren’t able to find video or photographic evidence of MJ wearing the Pumas during the Bad tour. Fun fact, did you know the Bad music video was directed by Martin Scorsese?

The other half of the scanned page of the German magazine mentions that Jackson was having trouble bringing his pet animals, including Bubbles the chimp, a python, a llama, and elephants, to Australia for that leg of the tour.

As for the shoes, the model isn’t a traditional Puma sneaker and is a one-off for Michael Jackson. MJ’s affinity for loafers and dress shoes is well documented, and the Puma shoes replicate this style with their patent leather upper and hard-bottom sole unit. However, unlike Jackson’s LA Gear sneakers, these were never released to the public, and only a few pairs have been floating around. Puma archivist Ulrich Planer wrote underneath Justin Oliver’s Instagram post that the Puma archive is home to two pairs of these MJ shoes.

While we all wait for MJ’s nephew Jaafar Jackson and the rest of the Michael cast to deliver the sequel, which has now been greenlit after the massive success of the film, take a look at the shoe and some photos of the pair on display at Puma’s HQ in Germany, courtesy of some LinkedIn members. For updates on the latest happenings in the sneaker world, download the Sole Retriever mobile app.

Nicholas Vlahos

Sneakerhead from South Florida who turned his passion into a career. When not writing for Sole Retriever, I enjoy watching films and discovering music. Follow me on Letterboxd @nickvlah For tips, reviews, or any shoes in a size 13, email nick@soleretriever.com