Puma to relocate UK headquarters to Manchester

German sportswear brand Puma is relocating its UK headquarters from London to Manchester’s technology, digital and creative hub, Circle Square, where it has secured a 20,000 square foot of space to house its sales, marketing, merchandising, finance, people and operations and direct-to-consumer departments.

Circle Square, located on Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor, dubbed the city’s “knowledge quarter,” is part of an 87 million pound development dedicated to the growth of the tech, innovation and science sectors from Bruntwood SciTech, a joint venture between Bruntwood, L&G (Legal & General) and Greater Manchester Pension Fund.

Puma will be based in No.3 Circle Square, which forms the latest phase of the development and offers 267,000 square feet and 15 floors of new workspace. The building is finalising construction and will open this summer.

In a statement, Puma said the new location would allow the sportswear brand to “work side-by-side with existing forward-thinking and disruptive businesses and institutions already located at the Circle Square campus and in the wider Manchester knowledge quarter,” which it adds will provide the company with new opportunities “to collaborate and innovate as it continues to focus on innovation and advancing performance”.

The new location will also put Puma on the doorstep of the city’s world-leading academic institutions, with access to top STEM and creative talent in the city. This includes furthering the brand’s existing link with Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) where it sits on an advisory board for its Manchester Fashion Institute.

Lucynda Davies, UK managing director at Puma, said: “The move to Circle Square and state-of-the-art facilities on offer forms a key part of our strategy for providing Puma’s employees with a first-class working environment with top facilities and amenities. All whilst being at the centre of a community which offers leading technology, fashion, AI and innovation.

“Being surrounded by such a strong line up of industry was an important factor, and to find somewhere in the heart of Manchester’s thriving tech community is exactly what we hoped for. Being based at Circle Square will also open up a host of opportunities to tap into the city’s creative talent pool and strengthen our existing links with academic partners like Manchester Metropolitan University – of which we get the added benefit of Bruntwood SciTech being a partner.”

Puma set to open new UK headquarters in Manchester

Davies added: “We’ve already experienced many of the gains that a thriving city like Manchester affords, and in December 2024, we teamed up with Manchester City football club to launch an innovative AI platform for fans to flex their design skills for the club’s official Third kit. Now, through our new UK HQ, we look forward to further integrating ourselves in the city’s innovative community.”

The news follows Puma’s announcement last month that it would be opening its first-ever European flagship store on Oxford Street in London, following the success of the brand’s second US flagship in Las Vegas, which opened last year. Set to open in autumn, the flagship will offer an immersive and interactive experience that blends sports performance and technology with cutting-edge streetwear designs as part of Puma’s brand elevation strategy.

Josh Whiteley, commercial director of Bruntwood SciTech, added: “Puma joining Circle Square underlines our ambition to build a thriving community of technology, digital and creative leaders and promote knowledge-sharing and innovation. The brand’s own ethos to innovate and grow marries perfectly with our vision, and its arrival highlights the vibrant and collaborative destination that we have built at Circle Square.

“Manchester has a reputation as an economic powerhouse that draws in disruptive, pioneering brands and skilled professionals. It also has the largest concentration of fashion students and undergraduates in the UK outside London, and a rich history in innovation and textiles as the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Being the UK home of a global brand like Puma will be a powerful two-way partnership – helping support regional growth, as well as offering them access to workspace, talent and companies that will shape the future of innovation.”

Manchester has been dubbed the “rising fashion capital” of the UK and has a track record in launching and nurturing some of the UK’s most well-known fashion brands, as well as housing the UK’s first fashion manufacturing lab, pioneered by the Manchester Fashion Institute, which offers businesses and researchers access to collaborative robotic technology, ‘cobots’, that can create sustainable high value, low volume garments.

The city also hosted Chanel in 2023, when the French luxury fashion house hosted its 2023/24 Metiers d’Art fashion show in the city’s Northern Quarter.