The Skepta x Puma Skope Forever 'Black Ice' Is a Step in the Right Direction

Puma is just a few correct steps away from entering its It Brand Era.

The strategy? Recruit (some of) the greatest talents on Planet Earth.

A few gold-standard Olympians here.

A sneaker-style guru there. (Salehe Bembury teased an alliance with The Wild Cat a few weeks ago.)

Plus, two of the biggest names in music. That's Rihanna, who resurrected her Fenty x Puma collab last year (the awakening was music to the ears of her 151 million Insta followers—even if it wasn't news of actual new music) and ex-Nike associate Skepta, who was promoted from ambassador to collaborator just a few months back.

He kicked things off with a bang, launching his first collection with the sportswear giant at a multi-venue event in Shoreditch, London. Naturally, he was kitted out in the garbs of his designs.

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The sneakers—The 'Skope Forever', Skepta's first stab at dreaming up an entirely original footwear model—were the main attraction of the moment. They made their debut in black with iridescent accents. Very Más Tiempo! Very popular! They sold out instantly.

So, of course, they're back. In 'black ice'. Which you can probably call 'beige'. Just don't call them 'granola'.

If you failed to cop a pair of the black iridescent, here are four things about Skope Forever you might like to know.

1| Its form is inspired by the early 2000s.

2| Chrome accents punctuate the midsole.

3| There's a dual-branded badge on the tongue, complete with a bird suggestive of Skepta's aforementioned house music label, Más Tiempo.

4| The upper is of a mesh foundation.

On the black pair, the mesh is met with nylon; on the beige—which, honestly, we might prefer—it's met with nubuck.

Buttery soft, of course. Becoming an It Brand doesn't come cheap.

This story originally appeared on Esquire.com. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.