A$AP Rocky Is Tearing Apart Streetwear's "Unnecessary, Redundant Collaborations" (EXCLUSIVE)
"It's like this: I feel like Jim Morrison," A$AP Rocky tells me in his New York office, wearing black Armani dress shoes and reclining in the fattest leather chair I've ever seen. We're here on a muggy September evening to discuss his landmark PUMA collaboration (and The Doors' famous frontman, apparently), which finally released to the public on September 26.
Rocky's desk is nearby, stacked high with his newest PUMA sneakers — the spiky, 3D-printed Mostro and a distressed PUMA Inhale shoe — and luxury cases from Goyard and Louis Vuitton. Invisible speakers are piping in jazz. A crystal decanter of Rocky's Mercer + Prince whisky sparkles next to a $125 Trudon candle that's burning away. The room smells musky, expensive, incredible.
Equally gregarious and kind, Rocky is dressed for business (in a double-breasted suit, no less) but in the mood for pleasure.
Our conversation is brief but engaging. He's having a good time. At one point, Rocky leans over to grab one of his softshell AWGE-branded PUMA helmets and puts it on, obscuring his famous mug enough that only his wide, absorbing eyes are visible.
"I look like a foreign assassin right now," Rocky laughs, gold teeth flashing. "I wear this all the time. I wear this when I'm mobbin'. I wear this in the summertime, the wintertime. It's fire. The only thing is, people definitely know it's me. Jig is up."
"It's got your company right on the forehead," I point out.
He chuckles. "This shit is cool. I was dying to get one."
Rocky's PUMA collection is everything he ever wanted it to be. Hell, it's anything PUMA could ever want it to be: His work with PUMA is at the crest of a wave about to swallow sportswear's street side. PUMA is straight-up fresh again, and Rocky is its poster child.
"PUMA, we out here," Rocky bellows. "This shit is cool. Look at the roster. [We're] bum-rushing the market, disrupting every category, and dominating."
He's not lying; PUMA is currently tapped in with only the most vital individuals, like Rocky's beau, Rihanna. Also, Skepta has his own line. BLACKPINK's Rosé is an ambassador. Coperni, Aries, Collina Strada, Slam Jam? They're all on board. Oh, and PUMA's Speedcat sneaker is poised to supersede its superflat footwear rivals as the biggest shoe of 2025.
"I'm with the right team," Rocky says. "I'm with a company that really has the patience to let me articulate my artistry, which is very fucking important because this is a real hurry-up-and-rush world. You gotta roll with the punches. Life throws me lemons, I make Sprite Remix! Fuck a lemonade."
Rocky launched his PUMA collection in October 2023 with a Las Vegas pop-up, a first taste of his vision. Elastic moto shirts with built-in gloves, first colorways of his Inhale sneaker, and that helmet he loves so well set the framework of PUMA by A$AP Rocky.
"You just look around and you're like... damn, man!" Rocky grins. "Dreams do come true."
But not without herculean effort.
A hoodie version of his beloved soft helmet — as in, a pullover top with a built-in helmet hood — has been in the works for two years and still is yet to release. Rocky's PUMA collection did not happen by accident nor is a it a celebrity cosigned cash-grab ("I don't want your money," Rocky says, firmly). Rocky's PUMA collection is more like a gateway to great style — to Rocky's style, even.
"I just wanna give people something I would actually fuck with and wear," opines Rocky. "We're in a climate where there is no individualism. Everything is a collective thought, cancellation, resubscription. I just wanna be a shepherd in a land of sheep. Don't wanna be a wolf, don't wanna be a shark, just wanna lead you in the right direction. Nobody thinks for themselves. You have to show them what they want, what they need."
To quote Rocky's forthcoming album, "don't be dumb." Listen to Rocky.
PUMA by A$AP Rocky is a dialogue between Rocky and the public. Though Rocky is one of the most famous people in the world, his wardrobe is eclectic, even enigmatic. You can't buy his looks off the rack. Even someone wearing the same pieces lacks the all-important personality shaped by the most crucial factor defining good personal style: Confidence.
Money can't buy that. But it can access Rocky's PUMA collection, which is the closest thing to actually dressing like A$AP Rocky. That alone renders all other comparable streetwear-sportswear tie-ups utterly irrelevant.
"Look at all the other teams," Rocky says, suddenly animated. "They're doing the saaaame things over and over again, putting the same names together. I don't wanna shit on nobody but let's talk about these unnecessary, redundant collaborations. It ain't feeding us no more, bruh. I wanna be a catalyst for change."
