There is no difference between asphalt and grass. There is no boundary between F1 performance and football functionality. PUMA’s newest gem, the ULTRA 5, was showcased at a special milanese event inspired by the connection between motorsports speed and contemporary football. This hybrid day highlighted the soul and idea behind the ULTRA 5, an engineering tool modeled on Motorsport scientific dogmas and created to elevate the performance and speed of every PUMA footballer.

In order to understand the innovative spirit of this product, we can mention the new SPEEDSYSTEM technology, the revolutionary stud geometry, the carbon outsole or the FastTrax study focusing on multidirectional traction, but we also enter the mind of one of its creators. We were lucky enough to chat with Footwear Developer Geraint Harries. His thoughts introduce a new chapter in PUMA’s iconic football story and simultaneously help us understand the creative process.

Thanks to his words, the claim ‘Fuel Your Fast’ takes on tangible meaning, and explains the synergy between the F1 high-tech Circus and the Beautiful Game that shaped the ULTRA 5.

Before introducing us to PUMA’s latest football innovation, could you tell us about your personal background and what drove you to become a Footwear Product Developer?

“I’m 26. I’m from Wales and I fell in love with football there. We only have a handful of really proper professional teams. Swansea, Cardiff, Newport, Wrexham…. So the aspirations are different and then we’ve got very few superstars we can call upon to have some inspiration. It’s interesting, it’s kind of its own football heritage, we have our own Premier League, which stands alone from the English Premier League, and we’re very, very proud of it. Growing up, I decided to go to Loughborough University in order to study Sports Engineering. And then progressed into an internship with PUMA and then, eventually, to full-time. I’m now a Product Developer and I was lucky enough to work on the ULTRA 5 project.”

Given your personal history, how much did it mean for you to work on a project that aimed to combine Formula 1 rationality and football progress? And how is this synergy expressed in ULTRA 5?

“Oh God, it’s like an engineer’s nerd dream. We visited Mercedes not too long ago, saw some of the manufacturing processes they have in there and took inspiration from our own manufacturing processes. It’s such a dream job, it’s fantastic. The level of detail, the attention to detail just in the development phases of the Formula 1 cars is something we really have to take inspiration from, it really requires some precision engineering. We also visited physios at Man City. We learned that the top speed of the players from the last 10 years, 20 years, hasn’t really changed that much, but the amount of sprinting that they need to do during the games has increased immensely. It demands fast recovery and efficiency. You also have to consider how necessary it is to have quick multi-directional movements…. So, talking about the ULTRA 5 innovations, I definitely have to mention the SPEEDSYSTEM, which is helped by the new configuration of the studs – their positioning is very very important. The fast track studs, the geometry of them, they help really bite onto the pitch and give you that stability and traction. And then also the upper. You could talk all day about the upper alone, like how we’ve adjusted the last to fit. The ortho light heel package. There’s actually maybe too much to mention. We knew that everything needed to work together essentially. When it comes to the aesthetics, of course we look at the colours and the graphics, however a lot of the silhouette is already pre-defined. First of all, we need something that’s sleek, we need something that’s comfortable. The shape of the product is really coming from a functional point. But then the visuals, the line gesture through the middle is very aggressive. And this is really to encapsulate what the ULTRA 5 is. It’s a tool. It’s a precision engineered tool. You need the players to really focus on the game. So similar to the F1 mentality.”

It’s easy to feel your passion, is the entire Foot Developing PUMA Team made up of football fans like you? And what emotions do you experience when you see your products debut on the pitch?

“Not the entire Team. In fact, it’s quite helpful sometimes to have an outside perspective. So if you have pure engineering or maybe even people coming from running footwear backgrounds, you know, they bring a different perspective, which is absolutely necessary. It’s good for me, I think, I’m also sample size, I know, I can understand the terminology that the pro players are saying and incorporate those feedback points into the product, which is very, very useful. Everybody that works in footwear has a passion for footwear in some way, shape or form. Then, football is the Beautiful Game, whether your family is very passionate, or you are very passionate, it’s something that you know, it’s the biggest sport in the world, it’s hard not to become addicted to it…. Of course I get emotional when I see one of our products in the most important stages. I’m thinking back to the Euro ’24, when we first saw the ULTRA 5 on pitch. Myself, the Designer, Ken, and the Product Line Manager, Steph, were sitting together watching this unfold on the TV. Actually at the time we were on a development trip in China, so we were sitting at crazy hours in the day. The really purple, polarizing, bright color really stood out on the pitch. It was such a beautiful moment for us.”

The glorious and iconic past on the one hand, the visionary and avant-garde future on the other. What is the state of the art of the relationship between PUMA and footwear culture?

“We always have to consider things that we’ve done in the past, and what can we then push and develop to improve upon that. The ULTRA 5 is a product that encapsulates all of the best that we have in our history, in our portfolio. So, this is a new start essentially. We’ve positioned ourselves now with a new manufacturing process and we know that the materials are always changing. There’s going to be a lot of change within the industry in the next few years. And we can look forward to that.”