Puma Oceania is proud to partner with Lazy Sneakers to support the organisation in giving back to local communities. Lazy Sneakers is a sneaker bank project that started in 2018, dedicated to collecting reusable and new sneakers from the community and then distributing these sneakers for free, so individuals can play, participate and reach their sporting potential.
Founder Maia Mariner was only 12 years old when she developed the idea. Maia observed that some of her peers could not participate in sports because they didn’t have the appropriate footwear.
As a leading sporting brand, Puma Oceania is backing Lazy Sneakers to create awareness and encourage others to support the project. So far, Puma Oceania has donated more than 200 new pairs of shoes to be reactivated by young people in the Geelong community in Victoria, Australia.
“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with a female-founded not-for-profit movement to support our local communities in both New Zealand and Australia,” Pancho Gutstein, General Manager of Puma Oceania, said in a press release. “Maia herself is inspirational and we are proud to be able to work with her on this important initiative focused on keeping people active and playing sports.”
Puma recognises in New Zealand, approximately one in nine children suffer from material hardship. So, supporting a project such as Lazy Sneakers to help combat this is a perfect alignment for the brand.
“Every young person should have decent sneakers to be able to participate in sports with their peers,” says Maia. “Our goal is to distribute another 10,000 pairs of shoes across New Zealand and Australia by the end of 2023.”
The name Lazy Sneakers refers to the shoes people have lying around at home, in the garage, and even at work. Sneakers just sitting there, doing nothing at all–being LAZY. This movement aims to help reactivate these sneakers and give them a new life. What started as a simple concept has grown to now provide sneakers for children, student-athletes, families, and social services nationwide, with over 10,000 shoes finding a new purpose since its inauguration.
Donate your sneakers to support the movement. Find your local Lazy Sneakers collection site here.
