Breanna Stewart is no stranger to making history, but she wishes her upcoming landmark didn’t have to be such a rare feat.
This summer, the former WNBA MVP and two-time champion will become the first woman basketball player in 12 years to release a signature shoe. The last player to hold one of her own was two-time MVP and reigning champion Candace Parker, with her TS Ace Commander released by Adidas in 2010 and Ace Versatility in ’11.
When Stewart signed with Puma in 2021, she was promised that the decades-long gap since the last women’s basketball signature shoe would come to an end.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘Wow, this is amazing,’” Stewart tells Sports Illustrated. “To be able to continue to uplift women’s basketball players, women in the sneaker industry, just a tremendous amount of pride.
“My second reaction is, ‘Wow.’ Ten years have gone by since the last signature shoe, and that is ridiculous, I think. I hope that for the signature shoes to come after me, they come a lot more often and a lot more frequent because young girls and boys want to represent the WNBA, too.”
Courtesy of Puma
The list of signature shoe athletes is short in the WNBA’s 25-year history. Stewart will join the likes of Parker, Diana Taurasi and Sheryl Swoopes among the 10 woman basketball players to have signature kicks to their name, a group the Storm forward calls “amazing.”
The opportunity for Stewart may not have come if not for her move from Nike to Puma prior to the 2021 season.
“Signing with Puma was something that was honestly a really big change for me … but something that I was really excited about, and I’m still really excited about because I feel that Puma is doing whatever they can to continue to raise the bar and set the standard for women in sports and women in general,” Stewart said. “I think something like that is extremely powerful because they know that change is necessary and change needs to happen, and we are making that change.”
Puma is giving Stewart the platform to be a trailblazer in the sneaker space, and the three-time All-Star was recently recognized by eBay in that regard by joining its Trailblazers Collection. A fitting honor in Women’s History Month, Stewart is being highlighted alongside other female designers, such as fellow Puma creator Rihanna, to fully show how much women have impacted the sneaker space.
“It’s something that’s really exciting because it shows people a different perspective,” Stewart said. “I think it shows people a lot of shoes they didn't know were created by women and hopefully there’ll be a lot more people representing and rocking these shoes once they learn more about them.”
The design process for Stewart’s signature shoe has been “crazy” with the challenges and shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, she has remained involved throughout every detail, from color choices to the design.
As the release of her signature shoe inches closer, Stewart is simultaneously excited to make history while also hoping that the next signature won’t take another 12 years. For now, she reflects on the trailblazing group she is joining while hoping to build on the legacy those players have set for her and WNBA players to come.
“They are all legends of the game, people that are currently playing, people that have retired,” Stewart said. “It just makes me want to continue to be the best I can be because those players on that list are amazing people on and off the court, and I want to continue to represent the WNBA in the right way.”
