Among the novelties of the latest edition of Pitti Uomo, Pro-Keds, the historic American sneaker brand founded in 1949, stands out above all others and is about to experience a new chapter in its history thanks to the agreement between Patrizio di Marco—who in his long career in the fashion industry has also been CEO of Gucci—and Jay Schottenstein, one of the largest American retailers (owner of American Eagle, among others).
“In the summer of 2023, Jay called me and told me that he had bought the Keds brand, founded in 1912 in Boston, and Pro-Keds, proposing to work together on the relaunch of the latter,” di Marco told FashionNetwork.com, at the splendid booth set up in the Octagonal Hall of the Monumental Area in Fortezza da Basso.
“Both brands were created by a company that made tires and decided to use rubber to make sneakers; they were true pioneers in this field. Over time, the two labels forged very strong ties with the world of sports, starting with basketball and moving on to American football, tennis, and skateboarding, after which, the two poorly managed brands experienced ups and downs and eventually became part of the Wolverine group; Pro-Keds, in particular, had been inactive for a few years.”
The two entrepreneurs decided to relaunch the label and did so in record time.
“Between April and May of last year, we started designing products and making the first prototypes, and by January 2025 we were ready with a collection for spring/summer that we presented to several retailers, many of whom, fortunately, joined our project,” di Marco continued.
“We have established a completely new distribution for Pro-Keds, which starts from Italy—where the company has a headquarters in Milan and a branch office in Barletta—and Europe, then moves to Asia and finally returns to America, where it all began.”
Today, the brand is already present in some top Italian and international stores: Biffi in Milan, Sugar in Arezzo, Nugnes in Trani, Deliberti in Naples, Dall’Oglio in Palermo, Russo in Capri, Leam in Rome, Eraldo in Venice, Tessabit in Como, Tsum in Moscow, DLY in St. Petersburg, Level and Ounass in Dubai, Beymen in Istanbul, Harvey Nichols in London, and Paul Warmer in Amsterdam.
“Last June 5, we launched our e-commerce, which is showing positive results. In the future, I would like to open pop-ups in strategic locations, to eventually establish monobrands,” di Marco added. “Today, we have both men’s and women’s offerings, but we already have prototypes for children’s collections, which we will launch when we are well positioned in the market.”
Among the novelties presented by Pro-Keds at Pitti Uomo for S/S 2026 is the new running Racer 77, inspired by a historic model from 1977: the upper is made of nylon with leather and suede inserts, and the structure is lightweight, flexible, and versatile. Most importantly, at the Florentine show, the brand announced its collaboration with Nivara, a European scale-up specialized in creating AI models for companies, with a spinoff dedicated to the fashion industry. Nivara presented the first suite of vertical AI tools for fashion, including the first industry-specific Small Language Model (SLM), which enables the optimization of creative processes, trend prediction, content generation, and the development of customized marketing strategies. Through this synergy, Pro-Keds becomes the first fashion company globally supported by dedicated artificial intelligence.
“We’ve received incredible feedback, both from the public and from industry insiders,” di Marco concluded. “The project worked, not only on an exhibition level, but also in the way we were able to add value to the space. It was important to be there, but with a clear identity.”
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