alchedek August 2025

PUMA SE(hereinafter referred to as PUMA), which aspires to become the world’s fastest sports brand, has also long been one of the most beloved names in the global sports industry. Every season, the company delivers cutting-edge products across more than 120 countries, helping athletes worldwide achieve their best performances. Known for its emphasis on speed and agility under the slogan FOREVER.FASTER, PUMA is now entering a new chapter with the appointment of Arthur Hoeld as CEO in July. Under this new leadership, PUMA is not simply undergoing a management reshuffle, but is instead strengthening its brand identity and focusing on securing sustainable growth. With a renewed vision centered on the intrinsic values of sports and the brand’s authenticity, PUMA aims to evolve beyond being just a product-driven company and establish…

Adapted from an archival running spike, the H-Street traces its lineage back to PUMA’s late-'90s Harambee silhouette, an innovative racer built for speed, and named after the Swahili word meaning “pull together” as an evocation of team spirit. Steeped in PUMA’s heritage of athletics and innovation, the low-profile H-Street silhouette features a lightweight mesh upper, with nostalgic details including the T-shaped toebox, race-ready shape, and track-inspired outsole tread. Striking silver panels lock down the sneaker’s vintage look and feel, while PUMA’s iconic wordmark and leaping cat logo are stamped boldly on the tongue. “The running-inspired roots of the PUMA H-Street feel perfectly in sync with the style landscape of today, as we continue to extend our footprint in the low-profile space. It’s another icon from our archive that showcases PUMA’s…

The climate crisis is an unavoidable future for humanity, necessitating contemplation on desirable responses and adaptations, as well as solutions. Environmental issues, which are directly linked to human survival, inevitably have a significant impact not only on the environment itself but also on the economy. As the world expands its focus from carbon neutrality to include climate change adaptation technologies in its strategies for achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets, South Korea must also advance with innovative technologies while staying ahead in the global competition for technological supremacy. In line with this, the July issue of alchedek aims to plan an environmental industry initiative utilizing greenhouse gas reduction and climate change adaptation technologies to establish a sustainable environmental ecosystem. With a multifaceted approach to carbon reduction and climate and environmental issues,…

As the world intensifies efforts to combat climate change and achieve carbon neutrality, the industrial sector remains the most crucial area for achieving Korea’s greenhouse gas reduction targets. However, emissions from industrial processes, such as the physical and chemical reactions of raw materials during production, present limitations that cannot be addressed solely through improvements in energy efficiency or fuel conversion. This situation necessitates more fundamental solutions. To tackle the dual challenge of reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, catalyst-based precision control technology is gaining attention as the most practical and effective solution. Today, catalyst technology has emerged as a key solution that not only enhances energy efficiency but also reduces greenhouse gases and drives the production of clean fuels. Globally, the development of ‘eco-friendly catalysts’ that comply with…

A new turning point in hydrogen production technology the key to the era of carbon neutrality is emerging. Sung-mook Choi, Head of the Energy and Environmental Materials Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science(KIMS), has been dedicated to developing Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis(AEMWE), a next-generation clean hydrogen production technology, since 2014. While traditional hydrogen production technologies have relied on costly precious metals, his team at KIMS has pioneered innovative technologies utilizing non-precious metal materials, significantly reducing hydrogen production costs. In particular, the team developed a cobalt-based oxide catalyst with high durability, showing less than 5% degradation over 4,000 hours, and secured a core technology that enables direct seawater electrolysis for hydrogen production presenting a realistic path toward the commercialization of the hydrogen economy. In 2024, the division…

As Korea enters a ultra-aged society and the prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension increases, the incidence of severe eye diseases, including the three major blinding diseases—macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma—is rapidly rising. The number of patients receiving treatment for these three major blinding diseases increased by 33.1%, from 1.5 million in 2019 to 2.01 million in 2023, with those aged 50 and over accounting for more than 80% of all patients. In the case of macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, the number of patients increased from approximately 200,000 in 2019 to about 510,000 in 2024, more than doubling. Blindness not only significantly reduces the quality of life for individuals but also imposes a substantial burden on society, including the caregiving burden on families…