Pro-Keds: New Kicks

Pete Maravich, Nate Tiny Archibald and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wore Pro-Keds. In the days before Nike and Michael Jordan cornered the basketball shoe market and athletes were still allowed to have a personality, Pro-Keds were some of the most stylish athletic shoes on the market. When the shoe market changed in the Eighties and Nineties, Pro-Keds lost their spot on the court, but, like their classic shoe brethren the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, Keds have recently been revived by a craving for all things vintage in the hip-hop community (as well as a certain nutritionally-deprived star of The O.C.).

Since 2005, when Damon Dash, head of Rocawear and urban entrepreneur extraordinaire, took charge of the Pro-Keds brand, the shoes have been designed and marketed more towards people who want to look good in their sneaks than to those who want to increase their hang time and draw heavily from both pop and everyday culture. Most recently, Dash has reoriented the brand towards the vintage styles that put it on the map in the first place. If the technicolor shoes pictured above aren’t your style (check out this video of Dash showing off the box that comes with the Skittles shoe. Yep, even the box looks tasty), then you can stick to the more refined look of these classic Royal low tops. Visit the Pro-Keds website to see all their latest, and try not to drool all over your keyboard.

–Dan Steckenberg