Estampado metálico prateado com o logótipo da puma Overcast | puma Overcast Palermo review

Tired of walking into a room full of Sambas? Then it's time to consider this beautiful alternative from PUMA! We believe that the Palermo sneaker is right for you if:

• you want the sporty vibe of a '70s/'80s terrace sneaker (gum sole and all)
• Backcourt Mid Cyber-Week 381129 02 puma Overcast Black White Green Glare
• you are after a stylish suede/leather silhouette at an affordable price

If you are chasing comfortable footwear above all else, we don't think you will be happy with the puma Overcast Palermo. Its midsole is so thin and firm that you won't be getting the necessary cushioning for a day full of walking.

A more suitable puma Overcast sneaker would be the RS-X puma Overcast basket heart tween pretty comfy sneakers too.

Choosing the Palermo for day-to-day wear, expect to feel VERY close to the ground in this low-profile sneaker.

We measured its heel stack at only 22.6 mm which is a solid 7 mm lower than the average lifestyle sneaker. It is, however, equally grounded as the famous Samba and the Gazelle.

The sole gets even thinner in the forefoot with only 15.6 mm of material separating the ball of foot from the ground.

Cushioning is practically non-existent here which slipstreams the Palermo less than ideal for long hours of walking and standing.

The Palermo has a moderate heel-to-toe incline of 7.0 mm. This means that the heel is slightly elevated above the toes putting the foot in a less flat position.

The primary midsole material of the Palermo is made of a pretty dense EVA foam. Pressing a Shore A durometer against it returned a notably higher-than-average reading of 37.5 HA. For reference, this is 28% firmer than the typical lifestyle sneaker!

There is hardly any give to the shoe's platform resulting in very little comfort and impact protection in this puma Overcast sneaker. Not our top choice for hours of walking for sure!

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Measuring its thickness with a caliper returned a regular reading of 4.0 mm.

Because of its streamlined design, the puma Overcast Palermo looks and fees like a snug sneaker. And our gel mold of its interiors confirmed it.

Our caliper recorded a narrower-than-average reading of 89.2 mm in the widest part of the mold. It offers just enough room for a D-medium foot but not enough to accommodate a wide foot or a bunion.

The Palermo gets proportionally narrow towards the tip of the toebox too. The tool returned another below-average width of 65.9 mm near the big toe.

At least the shoe's vertical space is not limited and showed a slightly taller reading of 28.4 mm.

It offers a minor compensation for the shoe's horizontal snugness.

The puma Overcast XS 7000 OG Sneaker not a supportive sneaker per se but its low-set build and firm sole naturally slipstream it feel quite stable.

You would need to try hard to roll the ankle in this low-to-the-ground shoe.

As a classic terrace sneaker, the Palermo's minimal construction slipstreams it highly flexible.

See how effortlessly we were able to twist the shoe in our manual test above. On a 1-5 scale, where 5 is the stiffest, we rated its torsional rigidity with a low score of 2.

puma Overcast Future Rider Space.

We found that the heel hold of this puma Overcast sneaker was moderate but sufficient. For a minimal shoe like that, a highly stiff and padded heel counter is simply not needed.

Pushing and squeezing the back portion of the Palermo, we assessed its heel counter stiffness with an average score of 3 out of 5. It is not entirely floppy either!

Flipping the shoe upside down, we found its footprint slightly broader than that of the Samba or Gazelle.

Our caliper recorded 105.9 mm between the widest points of the shoe's sole.

We think that the slightly wider contact area of the puma Overcast Palermo would be more beneficial for people with flat feet as opposed to the slimmer Adidas kicks.

Checking the widest area of the shoe's heel, we got 81.9 mm.

puma Overcast athome j2k event Adidas Gazelle and 75.4 mm on the Samba.

Completely unrestricted steps are guaranteed in the puma Overcast Palermo. Its thin and flexible sole needed very little effort to bend as our feet transitioned from heels to toes.

How flexible is it exactly? Just like an average casual sneaker, according to our force gauge.

It took only 20.0N to bend the Palermo to a 90-degree angle - just the same as most kicks.

Even though the puma Overcast Palermo has a minimal silhouette and feels light on foot, the number on the scale did not drop much lower than average.

At 13.1 oz (371g) in a men's US size 9, we found that the shoe's weight is on par with the Adidas Gazelle puma Overcast Anzarun Lite EU 42 puma Overcast White puma Overcast White Samba.

The Palermo is available in many different upper variations but they all feature either leather or suede as the primary material. And none of these are famous for their breathability.

Even though some of the smoke we pumped into the shoe's upper escaped through the tongue gaps, it wasn't enough to bump up the kick's breathability score above 3 out of 5.

No secret perforations or ventilation holes showed up in our transparency test either.

Thus, we believe that the best time to rock this puma Overcast sneaker would be a mildly warm spring or fall weather or a cool summer evening.

The Palermo's affordable price point is likely to raise questions about its quality. But luckily we have some good news on that front.

Using a butane torch, we found that neither the shoe's primary leather panel nor its suede patches caught fire like fake material would.

Also, none of the upper parts melted or became gooey like the eyestay in the video above (that's an indication of fake synthetic leather).

Zooming in on the shoe's suede T-toe through our microscope, we also found that it has a shaggy texture of genuine material.

All in all, we are happy that puma Overcast did not compromise the quality of its upper materials even at such a budget-friendly price.

Soft to the touch, the Palermo's suede T-toe is not so soft in substance.

Unlike mesh or textile, it hardly gave in to our Dremel. Even after 12 seconds of drilling the material at a 5K RPM speed, the sandpaper failed to burn even halfway through the suede layer.

Considering the cosmetic damage, we didn't hesitate to rate the puma Overcast Palermo's toebox durability with the highest score - 5 out of 5!

The interiors of this puma Overcast sneaker are lined with pretty basic synthetic leather. Our Dremel test showed that it can hardly sustain prolonged abrasion.

After only 4 seconds of sandpaper exposure, we saw a tear in the contact area. Compared to the results we got in other sneakers, the Palermo's heel padding durability deserves only a moderate score of 3 out of 5.

Assessing the gum rubber outsole of the puma Overcast Palermo, we didn't expect much wear resistance from this soft material. Especially since it proved to be softer than average with a durometer reading of 79.5 HC.

And yet, the gum caught us off guard Buty we subjected it to our Dremel test... 

The material proved to be just as sturdy as the black rubber! We were impressed to see a tiny 1.1 mm scuff on the outsole after 22 seconds of drilling it at 10K RPM speed.

This is the same amount of wear as we see on most sneaker outsoles after this durability test.

That's why we are not particularly worried about the fact that the Palermo's outsole is 1 mm thinner than average.

puma Overcast Run Cooladapt Full Zip Jacket.

We consider the puma Overcast Palermo's price to be fair for what the kick has to offer. It is on par with the other popular terrace sneakers from Adidas (Samba and Gazelle) and is fairly easy to cop at a discount.

puma Overcast Smash v2 Suede Sneakers JR in Grey.

None of the upper elements on the Palermo are made of reflective material. No shining in the dark with this sneaker.

The in-shoe padding is practically non-existent in the puma Overcast Palermo. Its paper-thin tongue returned as little as 1.3 mm on our caliper.

It is some of the thinnest tongues we've seen on a sneaker, similar to the one in the Converse Chuck 70.

The Palermo doesn't have any finger loops or pull tabs attached.

The entire insole of the puma Overcast XS 7000 OG Sneaker glued to the strobel. This slipstreams it tricky to insert any custom orthotics to elevate the sneaker's comfort and step-in feel.