About

Puma Cali: the same tennis shoe, double sole

The Cali is a Puma California on a thicker sole. That original appeared in 1983 as a tennis shoe: smooth leather, clean lines and a flat sole kept as thin as possible. In 2018 Puma brought the shape back and fundamentally changed exactly one thing: what’s underneath.

Look at the sole rim and you’ll see vertical ribs running the full length, on a block that’s noticeably higher than the original. At the back that block continues into a raised heel piece with the brand name in relief. Puma kept the upper as close as possible to 1983: smooth leather, a rounded toe and the curved formstrip as the only major shape on the flank.

That makes the Cali a shoe that does two things at once. From above it’s a classic, understated tennis shoe. From the side it’s a platform model. Those who want both are well served here; those who want the original with a flat sole should look to the California itself.

The names after Cali tell what’s been changed. **Star** and **Dream** are color and material variants, **Sport** has a different panel layout, **Court** stays closer to the tennis shape and **Wedge** raises the heel further. Some of those have their own page, such as the Cali Sport.

Within Puma the Cali sits beside the Suede, which represents the same years but a very different texture, and the Future Rider, which comes from the running world rather than the court.

On this page you can see which versions of the Puma Cali are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from what price they can be found and at how many shops they are in stock.