Please arrive 30 min before the start of your scheduled time. While waiting your turn, you will be provided with a full breakfast" ... instructed the email from Puma's PR. "We kindly request that you show us the article before it goes to print," it continued.

All which could suggest that media had been panting outside Puma's office in breathless anticipation of meeting its CEO, Jochem Zeitz during his visti to Dubai. In fact it was Puma that chased us.

A couple of conciliatory emails later however and we start afresh because the chance to meet the man who put quite literally put the zeit into the zeitgeist of global sportswear is one too good to pass.

For it is Zeitz who, if one believes all the press, single handedly created the 'sports lifestyle' category setting a new pace for the entire global sportswear business. In the process he catapulted 60 year old Puma from its loss-making, also-ran, commodity sector into the jet set world of haute couture and luxury.

Sold ......