Welcome to the Mostroverse: PUMA’s cult sneaker reboots in the region

First released in 1999, the PUMA Mostro was a market disruptor. Its spiked outsole, Velcro-fastened upper, and low-profile silhouette combined influences from sprinting spikes and surf shoes, daring to combine two design references rarely seen together. With such confident originality, it quickly stood out in a market dominated by bulkier performance models and minimalist lifestyle sneakers, positioning itself as something in between. 

During the early 2000s, the Mostro became a regular in editorial spreads and runway-adjacent fashion, especially in Europe and Japan. It appealed to subcultures interested in hybrid design – part sport, part style. The Velcro strap offered utility, but also added a visual break from traditional lacing systems. While not a mainstream hit in the way some PUMA silhouettes were, the Mostro consistently resurfaced in circles that valued niche design and archival innovation.

Now, 25 years later, the Mostro returns for Spring/Summer 2025 with updated materials and a campaign tailored to how Gen Z consumes style – digitally, socially, and with a preference for storytelling. The reissue preserves the original design features but introduces new colourways, with the yellow edition acting as the campaign’s visual anchor. Its reintroduction is part of a broader trend of reviving late-90s and early-2000s silhouettes, but the Mostro’s hybrid DNA makes it uniquely adaptable to today’s blurred categories of function and fashion. 

That overlap is increasingly visible across the Gulf and broader region, where a digitally native generation is shaping new visual cultures, from the sneaker scenes in Riyadh to experimental streetwear in Dubai. Style here is hybrid by default: rooted in local context, but in constant conversation with global influences. For a region where youth identity is often navigated across both physical and virtual space, the Mostro’s ability to shift between modes of sport, subculture, and fashion feels both timely and intuitive.

In that spirit, PUMA Middle East has launched the Mostroverse campaign, a creative initiative spotlighting regional talents who embody the sneaker’s ethos of individuality and self-expression. Shot across Dubai and directed by Palestinian-Jordanian photographer Omar Sha3, the campaign features a diverse lineup including French-Iranian DJ Parvané Barret, Palestinian-Jordanian musician Karrouhat, Kenyan-Yemeni stylist Junaynah El Guthmy, and Egyptian twins Huda and Helena Shahin. Each brings their unique aesthetic, turning everyday movement into something unapologetically original.

Complementing this, Dazed MENA’s newest short film, directed by CHNDY, celebrates the return of the mostro through the lens of video gaming culture and girlhood. Shot in Dubai, an environment where the line between performance and expression is always fluid and vibrant, the sneaker appears not as a lifestyle prop, but as an everyday tool for motion and visibility. The film draws from gaming aesthetics, glitches, overlays, fast cuts, to match the shoe’s sharp visual language.

Today, with the rise of modular style, wearable tech, and online subcultures that prioritise self-definition over conformity, the Mostro’s original concept feels current again. However, it has arguably always been so, occupying a rare timelessness in sneakerheads’ psyche as a show built for transition between spaces, formats, and identities. Its re-entry is less about nostalgia and more about fit for a generation that moves quickly and expects their footwear to do the same.