Italian Sneaker Brand P448 Opens Graffiti-Splattered Store in Paris – WWD
STREET SIGNS: Italian sports shoe company P448, which has just set up shop on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, stands out from its posh neighbors with its entryway roof, graffiti-splattered concrete columns and basketball hoops that double as small round shelves.
Sandwiched between Lanvin and Ermanno Scervino and a short distance from Hermès, the 6,000-square-foot unit has been open Friday for 15 months and boasts a commercial showroom on one of its three floors.
Wayne Kulkin, the chief executive officer of P448, is confused by the term pop-up.
“We wanted to create brand immersion labs where we could share our love of street art and music,” he says, calling his sales associates “a great man.” porcelain” encourages people to hang out and explore the brand universe.
“Since we think of these stores as veritable labs, we look for one to two year leases,” he said, explaining that retail locations collect “feedback to understand Learn more about our customers and get live feedback presented daily from our stores and straight to our design, marketing and digital teams. ”
Formerly home to La Perla, the narrow storefront has been demolished to reveal brick columns, with the main sales area evoking a basketball court across the street.
Sport shoes displayed on splashing graffiti panels.
Courtesy of PP48
P448 recently opened a temporary location in Miami, and Its first “lab” location opened in Manhattan last September will move on Feb. 4, a block on 5th Avenue with full-floor LED screens above the main floor.
“The goal is to open as many stores as possible in crowded places where there is a high volume of domestic and international tourists,” says Kulkin, noting that his list of desired cities He includes London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Shanghai, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas and Manhattan Beach, where he grew up,.
P448 was founded by street art enthusiasts Marco Samore and Andrea Curti in 2014 in a small town on the outskirts of Bologna, Italy. Kulkin met with the duo and established a distribution deal in 2018 and purchased the entire company in 2020 with Hilco Global president and chief executive officer Jeffrey Hecktman as a partner in parent StreetTrend LLC.
P448 is present in 1,400 stores worldwide and half of its business is in North America.
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https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/graffiti-and-a-halfpipe-arrive-on-tony-faubourg-saint-honore-in-paris-1235057799/ Italian Sneaker Brand P448 Opens Graffiti-Splattered Store in Paris – WWD
