Salehe Bembury and PUMA unveil travel-ready World Cup football capsule

Salehe Bembury’s latest PUMA chapter makes its strongest case as travel gear, not sideline drama. The TRAVEL WEAR capsule turns World Cup energy into a mobile uniform, reworking the KING tracksuit, jerseys, tees, shorts and goalkeeper kits for PUMA’s 11 qualified national federations, then pairing them with the Velum 1 Akita sneaker, whose UV-reactive finish changes color in sunlight.

PUMA positioned the rollout as the second chapter of its football introductions for summer 2026, following the March launch of 11 national federation kits. That sequencing matters. Instead of treating the tournament as a one-off costume moment, the brand is building a full system around movement, with apparel meant to move from airport to stadium and beyond.

Bembury’s design language gives the project some actual texture. He said he built specific visual codes for each national team from geography, biology, culture, architecture, landscapes and cultural legacies, which is a smarter brief than generic flag waving. The result is a capsule that leans into place without getting trapped in nostalgia, and that balance gives the clothes their appeal. The team gear feels intended for transit, layering and repeat wear, not just the pre-match tunnel.

That utility angle is strengthened by the silhouette choices. The KING tracksuit anchors the lineup, while the technical shorts and goalkeeper kits push the collection toward performance dressing with a streetwear register. Dominique Gathier, PUMA’s VP Teamsport, said the goal was to balance function for athletes with expression for fans, and the collection mostly lands in that middle ground: practical enough to read as kit, styled enough to work as luxury workwear. The question is how much of it will survive outside the tournament frame. The technical fabric story is convincing; the national-team styling still carries some of the burden of spectacle.

The sneaker is the sharpest flex in the group. The Velum 1 Akita pairs PUMA’s NITROFOAM™ cushioning with that color-shifting UV finish, and PUMA’s collaboration page lists the wider Salehe Bembury assortment at 27 products, with Velum NITRO™ sneakers priced at $160. That price point sits below many fashion-forward performance collabs, which makes the silhouette feel less like an art object and more like something built to actually be worn hard.

PUMA first revealed the Velum at an exclusive Paris Fashion Week event in June 2025, officially unveiled it on January 29, 2026, and put it on sale from February 7 through PUMA.com, flagship stores and select stockists. The travel collection followed on June 4 through PUMA and select retailers, while PUMA and Bembury marked the project with an immersive sound-inspired event at The Row DTLA in Los Angeles. Taken together, the rollout suggests a clear shift: this is football merchandise trying to function as everyday gear, and that move gives the capsule more staying power than tournament styling alone.