Puma Suede

Originally the Puma Clyde — named for NBA star Walt "Clyde" Frazier who wore them in the 1973 championship — the Suede achieved immortality at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, when sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos walked to the medal podium in Puma Suedes, then removed them and stood in black socks during their raised-fist protest, a deliberate symbol of Black poverty. The shoes themselves, carried rather than worn during the protest, became permanently linked to athletic courage and political resistance. It remains one of Puma's longest continuously produced sneakers, in production for more than five decades.