Went to Pavilion KL yesterday with my fiancee and I thought since I'm there, might as well check out the Puma Store there which is located in Level 5 to see what Arsenal items have they brought in. Quite a variety of apparels they have. They have the Home and Away shirt but the 3rd Kit is no where to be seen. They also have the Puma polo tee but only in blue.

I couldn't help myself but to get my hands on one of these XD



Didn't intend to get it at first because it wasn't really appealing to me when it was first released in the press but the actual product changed my mind and here is my short review.



Unlike what Nike has done with the Arsenal crest, Puma has a different way of doing things. Instead of having the crest woven, the crest is heat pressed onto the shirt. The material of the crest is also different altogether, this one has a PU feel to it whereas the Nike has a fabric feel to it. I personally prefer the Nike version of the crest because it has that "shine" factor to it (the background has 2 tones). The Puma version seems to be slightly glossy in appearance hence also giving it that "shine" factor. Each with its own pros.


On the left side of the shirt, you have the Puma cat very neatly woven onto the shirt.



Instead of having "victoria concordia crescit", Puma uses "Future, Forever, Victorious". Apparently, this special phrase has more meaning to it. Future refers to the "3rd Kit", Forever refers to the "Home kit" and Victorious refers to the "Away kit". If you look carefully, the text "Forever" is highlighted in Bold on the Home kit and the text "Victorious" is highlighted in Bold on the Away kit therefore one can safely assumed that the text "Future" will be highlighted in the "3rd kit".


I am used to Nike's "Dri-Fit" and I am starting to get myself familiarize wth Puma's "Dry-cell". Both with different names but apparently, one of the same thing. The function is to wick away sweat effectively and supposedly to cool you down faster when you're being active. My experiences with Dri Fit has so far been very commendable but I have yet to try out "Dry-cell".

As you can see, the overall micro holes in the shirt are smaller compared to Nike's Dri Fit.

The material used by both companies also differs tremendously and you can easily notice it by the feel of the texture. Nike has more of a form and substance to the shirt whereas Puma seems to be a little bit "soft". Puma's constructions seems to focus on lining up with the wearer's body, giving it a more natural feel to it making the wearer feels like the shirt is the second skin. Plausible idea but this has give off an impression that the shirt is of cheaper material.

On the side under the armpits, you have ventilation mesh with holes just like Nike once used to have until they adopted the laser chevron holes which to be honest, i find it a more to aesthetics than anything else.

The sponsors. Nike's material used is closer to the PS-PRO material used for the NNs. The Puma ones felt much thinner and hence more flexibility but this could possible cause the durability to reduce tremendously as well.

The bad thing about the material used by Nike for the sponsors is that they can be quite "hard" at times because I can sometimes feel the sponsors when I am wearing them but i felt none while w Puma. This is definitely a plus! Makes it less rigid and more comfortable to wear.



On each side of the sleeves you have the Puma cat carefully woven in red and the fraction of red stripes at the end of the sleeves.


... and this, I have no idea what it represents. It seems that this somehow points to the heritage of Arsenal embodying all the colors of Arsenal. Not sure.

Overall, this is a must get shirt for all Arsenal fans because it marks the beginning of a new "era". I have no complain on the design and coloring scheme for the Home shirt but I reserve them for the Away shirt which I will not get unless it tags a hefty discount to it.

The first thing that I noticed when i first put this Puma on was how comfortable it was. I was actually surprised. I have the want to wear it everyday, this did not happen with the Nike.

Bought it for RM259.00.