Puma's reset continues as sales slide but losses narrow

Puma reported a second-quarter sales decline of 9.4%, WWD reported, while executives pointed to narrowing losses as evidence that the sportswear group's turnaround is gaining traction. The results reflect a business still mid-transition, cutting back on discounting and unproductive product lines while it works to rebuild its brand positioning against larger rivals Nike and Adidas.

Puma has been retrenching for several quarters, tightening its wholesale distribution, reducing promotional activity and refocusing marketing around fewer, higher-impact franchises. That strategy typically produces exactly this pattern: a near-term hit to revenue as the company walks away from lower-quality sales, paired with margin improvement as inventory and discounting discipline take hold.

The read for the wider sportswear and athleisure sector is that recovery from the post-pandemic oversupply glut remains uneven. Puma's experience mirrors that of other performance and lifestyle brands working through excess inventory and softer wholesale demand, particularly in North America and parts of Europe, even as the company insists its underlying reset is progressing.

What to watch is whether narrowing losses translate into a return to top-line growth in coming quarters, and whether Puma's leadership can convince investors the worst of the decline is now behind it rather than an ongoing drag.

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