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BANGALORE,
PUMA today revolutionized the concept of retail spaces in India with the opening of its first sustainable store in Indiranagar, Bangalore. The store is locally developed, sourced out of India, and incorporates a number of revolutionary design elements to ensure that it meets the highest criteria for sustainability. This remarkable achievement is in keeping with PUMA’s vision of being the most desirable and sustainable Sportlifestyle brand. Poised to be the flagship store for PUMA in India, the store is a global first for the brand.
Conceived by PUMA India in collaboration with the PUMA EEMEA (Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa) Regional Office, the store is spread over a total of 5000 sq. ft and incorporates the elements of sustainability through innovative design, mechanical and electrical installations, and material selections. While the lower levels will function as a retail area, ‘The PUMA Social Club’ cafe and bar will be located on the upper floor & terrace, and will be ready to open by the end of 2012.
“In keeping with our vision of being the most desirable and sustainable Sportlifestyle brand, PUMA is happy to take this giant step forward for the retail industry. The building is a true design marvel, and incorporates a host of innovative features to make it a one-of-a-kind store. It has been an honour to establish PUMA’s first sustainable retail space in India,” said Rajiv Mehta, Managing Director, PUMA South Asia.
“PUMA is happy to take this pioneering step forward for the retail industry.”, said Franz Koch, CEO of PUMA. “Establishing a sustainable PUMA Store underlines our commitment to reduce CO2 emissions, energy, water and waste in PUMA offices, stores, warehouses and direct supplier factories by 2015.”
The closed and open surface layout of the building is designed for optimal daylight usage (so less artificial light is used) & heat insulation, and the recessed first & second floor volume generates a stack-effect for natural cooling. The highly insulated building shell, Earth Air Tunnel for pre-cooling of the fresh air supply and roof extractors optimize the stack-effect, thus allowing for AC free cooling. The store ensures customer comfort with no extra energy consumption. Solar PV cells have also been installed at the store, which provide 10,384 kwh units of energy a year to help power the store’s energy requirements. Moreover, the porotherm blocks used to construct the shell of the building have been made using silt from the lakes in Kunigal. These lakes are the only source of water for villages in Kunigal and hence are desilted every year to increase the water table. The silt ended up as waste earlier but has been used as a valuable resource in the PUMA Sustainable Store.
The store will retail a range of merchandise made from organic (pesticide-free) cotton as well as PUMA’s Wilderness Collection – a range primarily sourced and produced in Africa using environmentally sustainable materials and certified by the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF). For the first time in India, the Sustainable Store also introduces PUMA’s global ‘Bring Me Back I:CO Program’ – an in-store recycling program for footwear, apparel and soft accessories.
The launch event was unique in that it was a carbon-neutral affair – with all the energy consumed during the party being produced by customers and invitees through pedal power. This is a novel initiative whereby people pedal on a special bicycle generator that is attached to a dynamo and fed into the main power source. In this way, power can be created and stored in a battery bank thereby eliminating reliance on traditional power sources.
To generate awareness and appreciation for sustainability amongst the citizens of Bangalore, PUMA has embarked upon an ambitious initiative to involve the art and design community. The brand has partnered with Trapeze Design Studio as well as young installation artists from the city to create large-format installations using waste material. These will then be put up in key locations around Bangalore city later this month as a strong message to highlight the glaring need to reuse, reduce and recycle – the cornerstone of waste minimization strategies. The aesthetic and utilitarian installations will be donated to the Bangalore Municipality and remain as permanent artworks to beautify the city-scape.
