Sneaker label P448 has touched down in New York City, opening its first U.S. retail location on Fifth Avenue.
The six-month pop-up at 587, near Saks Fifth Avenue, Adidas and Puma, carries the brand’s made-in-Italy footwear in 3,000 square feet of space, featuring artwork and a mural by global artists from New York City, Los Angeles, London and Italy. In addition to the product offering, the store houses arcades and pinball machines for shoppers and passersby to play, and a cash wrap to be tagged with graffiti.
P448 was founded by street art enthusiasts Marco Samore and Andrea Curti in 2014 in a small town outside of Bologna, Italy. Kulkin met the duo and established a distribution deal in 2018 and bought the full company in 2020.
Chief executive officer Wayne Kulkin said last year the brand achieved “triple-digit growth as a company” and for the year-to-date, wholesale is up 49 percent and direct-to-consumer is up “strong triple digits,” he said.
P448 is in 1,400 global doors and half of its business is in North America. The brand operates two additional global stores in China in Beijing and Chengdu, and has plans to open more internationally in 2022, as well as in Chicago and in Miami where it is currently operating a pop-up at Showfields.
“I think doing more with less is better,” said Kulkin who is hoping to open more stores next year. “Stores should be a place to socialize, a place to cross-promote brands so stores can be more than a store. People need to think of how we change our industry. Our stores are still part of socializing.”