Via del Babuino, Rome. Right here, in the heart of Roman shopping, Pro-Keds opened its first flagship store in April 2026. A choice that ties the brand's history to one of Rome's most iconic addresses, adding another chapter to a revival that started in Italy.
Pro-Keds Rome: Where to Find the New Store
The store sits at number 192 Via del Babuino. The street connects Piazza di Spagna to Piazza del Popolo and, together with Via del Corso and Via di Ripetta, forms the so-called Tridente — the street layout that has defined the city's historic center since the 1600s.
For centuries, Via del Babuino was the domain of antique dealers and art galleries, and it still holds onto that identity today. Alongside it runs a thread of contemporary luxury: international designer boutiques line the street and the blocks around it, making it one of the busiest shopping stretches in Rome. It's in that balance — between historic heritage, creativity, and contemporary fashion — that Pro-Keds found the right setting for its first flagship.
Not a Store. A Lab.
The Via del Babuino space was built as a living lab. It's not just a place to browse the Pro-Keds collections and feel the quality of the sneakers firsthand — it's a space built to bring the brand and its community together. A reference point where people walk in, try things on, share their stories, and where the brand actually listens. That's the kind of direct exchange you can't replicate online, and it's exactly what turns a store into something more than a store.
That thinking shapes the calendar too. The Rome flagship is built to run on activations and cultural moments, with events bringing performers, DJs, and artists through its doors. Not decoration — the natural extension of what Pro-Keds has always been: a sneaker born on basketball courts and the streets of New York, woven into hip-hop culture and urban life before "sneaker culture" was even a phrase.
Walk through the door and that story shows up in the product: the silhouettes that built the brand, alongside the newest pieces from the latest collection. Rome becomes the place where Pro-Keds' legacy meets its present direction — face to face with the people who live that history out every day.
Pro-Keds Rome and Partner Gente Roma
The flagship opening isn't a standalone move — it's the result of a partnership with Gente Roma. Founded in 1981 as a drapery shop near the Pantheon, Gente Roma has grown over more than forty years into the city's best-known luxury multibrand retailer, with a network of boutiques across Via del Babuino, Via Frattina, and Via Cola di Rienzo, and a lineup that brings major maisons together with some of the most interesting names working today.
On one side, Pro-Keds' American heritage. On the other, a name that knows Rome and its rhythm inside and out. The store finds its identity right where these two sensibilities meet — the brand's sporty, urban edge and the distinctly Roman perspective of a name that's been telling the city's fashion story for nearly half a century.
For Pro-Keds, it means having a partner deeply rooted in the local landscape, one that can read the city's culture and market without losing sight of the bigger, international picture.
Rome: The Brand's First Direct Outpost
The Via del Babuino flagship marks another step in Pro-Keds' push to rebuild a direct presence in the market. After the Milan showroom, opened in September 2025, and the launch of the official e-commerce site, the brand keeps investing in its own spaces and channels, deepening the conversation with its community.
Italy is where Pro-Keds has set its new course: offices in Milan, production entrusted to Italian manufacturers like Besneakers, a presence at Pitti Immagine Uomo, and now its first physical spaces between Milan and Rome. A real foundation — built from places, people, and expertise — from which to look toward international markets.
