PUMA Welcomes Indian Sustainable Fashion Advocate Aishwarya Sharma To Its Voices Of A RE:GENERATION Initiative

Global sports company PUMA has expanded the regional reach of its Voices of a RE:GENERATION initiative beyond Europe and the US and added Indian sustainable fashion advocate Aishwarya Sharma to the project.

Aishwarya joins PUMA's roster of next-gen thinkers as part of its year-long project to advance its sustainability efforts by collaborating with young environmentalists. Based in Delhi, India, Aishwarya is passionate about driving change towards a more sustainable fashion industry and has made a name for herself for her beliefs around women's rights, fashion, social media and climate change at events such as COP27.

Launched in April this year, PUMA's initiative empowers a cohort of Young Voices to help the brand identify key areas for improvement by giving them a voice alongside leading stakeholders. To date, PUMA's Young Voices have met with key players at PUMA to discuss the brand's progress and challenges surrounding its FOREVER.BETTER Sustainability Strategy - and produced PUMA RE:GEN Reports; a podcast series to engage younger generations around sustainability and PUMA's 10FOR25 target areas. The podcast was created in response to consumer feedback, gathered at PUMA's Conference of the People event in 2022, which revealed that current sustainability communications were not engaging the next generation.

The latest development of this project will see Aishwarya meet and collaborate with PUMA's current Young Voices, including:

• US-based upcycler Andrew Burgess
• Germany-based sustainable and healthy living vlogger Luke Jaque-Rodney
• France-based visual artist and creative consultant Jade Roche

Alice Aedy is no longer participating in the initiative, a decision reached through mutual understanding.

Aishwarya Sharma joins PUMA's Voices of a RE:GENERATION initiative this September and will explore the opportunities and challenges faced by the brand in the area of sustainability, whilst making recommendations for actionable change. She will also work with PUMA to improve the way it communicates sustainability to its India-based audience.

On the announcement, Aishwarya comments: "My passion as a sustainability advocate lies in increasing awareness. I think it's so important for people in my community and across the world to understand what is really going on in sustainability and this partnership with PUMA will grant me an inside view of how a large corporation tackles such a hugely important and complex challenge. Being able to have a voice in how PUMA communicates sustainability is also a great opportunity to drive change and set a precedent across the industry and I'm very much looking forward to that."

PUMA is one of the world's leading sports brands, designing, developing, selling and marketing footwear, apparel and accessories. For 75 years, PUMA has relentlessly pushed sport and culture forward by creating fast products for the world's fastest athletes. PUMA offers performance and sport-inspired lifestyle products in categories such as Football, Running and Training, Basketball, Golf, and Motorsports. It collaborates with renowned designers and brands to bring sport influences into street culture and fashion. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Cobra Golf and stichd. The company distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs about 20,000 people worldwide, and is headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany.