What Is the Puma Logo?
The Puma logo is a leaping cat, usually shown above the name PUMA in heavy capital letters. German cartoonist Lutz Backes drew the cat in 1968, and Puma has kept the same basic drawing ever since. The logo belongs to Puma SE, the sportswear company founded in Herzogenaurach, Germany, in 1948.
Puma also uses the cat and the wordmark on their own, and some product lines carry marks of their own, such as the Puma Future logo and the Puma Ultra logo for its football boots. The cat with the wordmark is available as the Puma logo SVG.
Puma Logo Facts
| Designer | Lutz Backes |
| Introduced | 1968 |
| Symbol | A leaping puma |
| Logo type | Combination mark: wordmark and symbol |
| Earlier mark | The Formstrip, on Puma shoes since 1958 |
| Owner | Puma SE |
What the Puma Logo Means
The leaping cat stands for speed. Puma started out making running and football shoes, so its founder wanted a name and a mark that said fast. A puma is quick, light and strong, and drawing it mid-jump puts that motion into a flat shape. Because the cat is a single solid silhouette, it reads clearly even when it is printed small on a shoe tongue.
Puma Logo History
Rudolf Dassler and his brother Adolf ran a shoe factory together in Herzogenaurach from 1924. In 1948 they split up and each started his own company in the same small town. Adolf's became Adidas, and the Adidas logo with its three stripes became the cat's lifelong rival on sports kit.
Rudolf first called his company Ruda, from the first letters of his first and last names. He soon renamed it Puma, after the big cat.
The first mark that made Puma shoes recognisable was not the cat but the Formstrip: the curved band that sweeps from the heel towards the laces. It has appeared on Puma shoes since 1958 and often works as the logo on its own.
The cat arrived in 1968, twenty years after the company. Lutz Backes drew it as one solid silhouette in mid-leap, and Puma has built its logo around that drawing ever since.
Puma, Adidas and Nike
The three sportswear brands each picked a simple shape that works without the name: Adidas its stripes, Nike its swoosh (compare the Nike logo) and Puma its cat. Pelé wore Puma boots at the 1970 World Cup, and Usain Bolt wore the cat when he set his 100 m world record in 2009.
For more brands like Puma, browse our sports logos, or narrow it down to sportswear logos.
Frequently Asked Questions
What animal is in the Puma logo?
A puma, also called a cougar or mountain lion, shown in mid-leap.
Who designed the Puma logo?
The leaping cat was drawn by German cartoonist Lutz Backes in 1968.
What was Puma called before it was Puma?
Ruda, a name made from the first two letters of Rudolf Dassler's first and last names.
Are Puma and Adidas related?
Yes. Their founders, Rudolf and Adolf Dassler, were brothers who ran one shoe company together until they split in 1948.