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The deal that launched the Fenty Creeper ends quietly. No renewal, no drama, no press release.
May 22. Puma confirmed the Rihanna partnership will not renew. Eight years, three signature silhouettes, one Fenty Puma line that moved units in 2016 and slowed to a trickle by 2023. The brand declined to comment on financials. Rihanna's team did not respond.
The Creeper sold well at launch. Retail $120, resale tracked 140% in the first six months. By 2019, the same silhouette sat at outlet for $49. The Fenty Trainer followed the same arc. The Bow Slide had one season. After that, silence.
Puma's main-line runners held steady on StockX through the partnership years. The Fenty releases spiked, dropped, and never recovered. Look at the Creeper today: $60 on average, size runs incomplete, no bidding momentum. The Bow Slide peaked at $180 in 2017. It's $45 now, if you can find it.
The brand leaned hard on celebrity in the mid-2010s. Rihanna, Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner at various points. The roster looked strong on paper. The product moved for six months, then retailers sent it back. Puma's quarterly reports started breaking out "collaboration impact" in footnotes by 2021. The line item went negative.
Puma's non-celebrity basketball line grew 11% year-over-year in 2025. The running category, anchored by the Deviate Nitro and Velocity, posted double-digit growth in three of four quarters. The celebrity-anchored lines contributed less than 2% of total revenue by end of 2024, per the annual filing.
Rihanna's exit follows a pattern. Kanye left adidas under legal cloud. Virgil's Nike collabs dried up post-2022. Travis Scott's Jordan line still moves, but the release cadence slowed from monthly to quarterly. The celebrity model worked when scarcity was real. Now it's engineered, and the resale market sees through it.
Puma will pivot to athlete endorsements and technical storytelling. Rihanna will focus on Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty, both of which posted stronger margins than footwear. The Creeper had its moment. That moment ended three years ago.
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