Did Puma just unveil the most ridiculous super shoe ever?

At this point, it’s hard to tell whether German sportswear giant Puma is designing performance products or just placing wagers on how futuristic they can make a running shoe look. Earlier this week at the Puma Nitro Lab in Tokyo, the brand unveiled its latest prototype collection, the FAST-XP line. Among them, there’s one shoe that stole the spotlight: the FAST-XP BLD.

The BLD prototype looks like something an extraterrestrial creature would wear if they arrived on Earth and landed on the Berlin Marathon, and from the press photos, the towering midsole appears closer to Kangoo Jumps (circa early 2000s) than any road-legal marathon performance shoe.

Inspired by the carbon-fibre blades worn by Paralympic sprinters, the shoe is engineered to maximize propulsion, with little concern for World Athletics’ 40mm stack height rules. Its defining feature? A single, long carbon PWRPLATE, sandwiched between two thick layers of NITROFOAM Elite midsole cushioning (the peanut butter), designed to mimic the spring and snap of a blade prosthetic.

Think stiff heel, flexible forefoot and PWRPLATE-driven NITROFOAM, all coming together in what Puma claims is their boldest attempt yet to replicate blade-like dynamics in a traditional running shoe. Puma says this setup delivers explosive transitions, enhanced energy return and rapid push-offs.

The brand has not released or confirmed a stack height, weight or detailed breakdown of how the BLD was constructed.

Puma launched a similar product in 2024 with the Fast-RB (Rule Breaker) Nitro Elite, but once it hit the open market, many runners found the shoe to be too heavy and awkward for any sort of training, coming in at 355 g (12.5 oz.).

Much like concept cars in Formula 1, the FAST-XP collection isn’t necessarily about what you’ll see on store shelves next season. Instead, Puma says it is a way of testing boundary-pushing ideas and showcasing where performance footwear could go. Each of the five models in the XP collection draws on the brand’s most advanced innovations, re-engineered for both track and road running.

There’s no official word on whether the BLD will hit the consumer market, although one thing is for certain: Puma seems to be leading the way in taking running shoe innovation into uncharted (and possibly absurd) territory.