Kardashians Take Sides in Puma-Adidas Feud

HERZOGENAURACH, Germany—Puma SE and Adidas AG, two sportswear companies founded in the wake of a family feud here, have now stirred up another one inside one of America's top celebrity clans.

Puma this week said it had signed a promotion deal with socialite and model Kylie Kristen Jenner, 18, the youngest sibling of the tabloid-friendly Kardashian-Jenner family, best known for the reality-television series "Keeping Up with the Kardashians." Ms. Jenner is Kim Kardashian's half-sister.

Puma, which Thursday reported improving fourth-quarter earnings and strong sales growth, said it would feature the TV personality in its spring-summer women's training campaign, launching in April.

Looking to polish its faded image, Puma has made several moves into the female fitness market recently. In late 2014, it signed a partnership deal with Barbadian pop star Rihanna. Unlike Rihanna, who is helping design products, Ms. Jenner will only be a marketing face for Puma, the company said.

"Kylie represents a fresh and exciting new era for fashion and we couldn't think of a more fitting and influential female to headline this campaign," said Adam Petrick, Puma's global director of brand and marketing.

What Puma didn't mention was that Ms. Jenner is the sister-in-law of Kanye West, Adidas's biggest star, and Puma's new deal has apparently sparked tension within the celebrity family.

When rumors of the Jenner-Puma pair-up went viral about a week ago, Mr. West, who struck an alliance with Adidas in 2013, took to social media platform Twitter. "1000% there will never be a Kylie Puma anything," he tweeted at the time, adding, "Never try to divide the family!!!"

Whether the rift is real or a publicity stunt remains unclear. Representatives of Mr. West and Ms. Jenner didn't respond to requests for comment.

But family feuds are familiar to the two German sports brands. After brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler had a fight near the end of World War II—about what remains unknown—Adolf, known as Adi, created Adidas. Rudolf started Puma.

For decades, their rivalry divided not just the family but people across sleepy Herzogenaurach, forcing locals to choose sides—and a brand. Only recently, with both brothers dead and buried, are residents nearing a truce.

Zuzanna Pusz, a Berenberg analyst, described Puma's deal with Ms. Jenner as an "interesting move," given the history of both brands.

Ms. Pusz said the deal could potentially complicate things for Adidas. Until now, the entire Kardashian family had been "endorsing [Adidas] for free" due to their family ties to Mr. West, Ms. Pusz explained, adding that this perk was something the company probably wouldn't get to enjoy much longer.

An Adidas spokeswoman declined to comment. Mr. Petrick at Puma said that he could not comment on the family history or any links to it.

Write to Ellen Emmerentze Jervell at ellen.jervell@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 19, 2016 07:05 ET (12:05 GMT)

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