INTERVIEW:
PERKS AND MINI X PUMA
Australian fashion outlet Perks and Mini (PAM) are internationally remarked for their styling appraisal and consignments. Recently, the label has collaborated with Puma for a modern fashion capsule that aims to contribute to the betterment of remote Amazonian rainforests. The venture is set to distribute awareness and financial aid to areas most heavily affected by deforestation and changes in climate. The co-founders of PAM, Shauna and Misha were generous enough to share their thoughts about the most recent collaboration.
Produced: MATHEW SIEBUHR
Interview: SOPHIE EMMETT
Images: DENNIS ELUYEFA, LOUISE NINDI
Hi Shauna & Misha how are you today?
We are great, pretty much great every day!
You’ve done a few interesting collaborations, what made this one with Puma so special?
From the start it was clear that both sides wanted to do something meaningful and go somewhere together that we couldn’t do on our own. It’s been almost two years in development and what we have made breaks new ground for how entities can collaborate. It’s very exciting. Puma have agreed to a pioneering impact marketing project for the collaboration whereby together we are actively engaging with conservation and ecology in some of the worlds most wild and diverse landscapes, for the first season it’s in the Jurua River in the Amazon.
It is clear throughout the collection of cosy silhouettes that you wanted wearable comfort, however what else was an important aesthetic for the collection?
Functionality and performance is crucial to the product. Yes we want to be comfortable, but not always on our couch! In the jungle and the mountains too.
You’ve also mentioned that you got inspiration from flora such as South America’s Yareta (AKA the “cushion plant” I see this through the psychedelic flowers on pieces such as the polo Shirt and Graphic Tee’s is there anything else people would be surprised to know was an inspiration for this collaboration?
The inspiration came from wild place and conviencene stores. We wanted to build a project that could flow between both. There’s inspo in the products and interestingly there’s also inspo in the impact - PAM/PUMA BIO/VERSE. They aline and it’s this intersection that’s so exciting for us. We hope other collabs can also think about the whole story not just the product. Nature is a teacher and a guide. Taking inspiration form nature is a way to also connect and help understand how it works. Touching, feeling, eating, and drawing from such plants is a way we can help understand our relationship with the natural world, a world we are a part of.
The project has been launched in an attempt to protect threatened wild places on the planet, where is the wildest place you’ve both been and where do you think needs the most protection?
That’s right. From the first conversations with Puma we expressed that we wanted to give back to the places that inspired the collection. The story/adventure started from day 1 it wasn’t constructed at the end of the process. Which often happens in fashion. It’s hard to say where’s the most wild place we have been, maybe Beirut, Atlas Mountains, Sahara, Dilijan in Armenia…
How does this collection go beyond fashion?
See above. The collection has a ‘fashion’element/aesthetic but is also functional. The product acts also a souvenir of the activity we are implementing with Puma, and the help of DEEP in the jungle, and hopefully can act as a starting point for conversation around themes such as ecology, conservation, connection, and even psychedelic plant species.
ST: It’s a not just a collab, this isn’t a colourway of a sneaker. This is a project that will run for 4 seasons. It’s an impact project that helps support biodiversity in some of the world’s most wild places. We wanted the products to be a PAM take on contemporary sportswear. We see them as souvenirs of an ambitious new way to work and make positive impact.
What did you enjoy more, designing the shoes or the clothing?
Puma have a great team it was enjoyable to work with teams across footwear, apparel and accessories. The most enjoyable is seeing it all come together.
Back in 2015 you launched the brand in Melbourne, is there anything you miss from home(Australia) that you just can’t recreate in Paris?
We have learnt to make the most of where you are. We spent years trying to figure out the perfect place to live. But finally we realise there’s pros and cons everywhere and you just need to focus on the good things about where you are, not try to make it be something it’s not.
