PRO-Keds Kickin' It Old School

If DJ Jazzy Jeff is making headlines, then it must be summer, summer summertime. Or he's making campaign cameos for a formerly preppy shoe company.

Or both. 

Lexington-based footwear brand PRO-Keds is spinning it back and looking to old-school rappers and DJs like Biz Markie, Bobbito Garcia, Clark Kent and Jazzy Jeff to help connect Keds with younger consumers, according to a recent report in the Boston Herald.

“These guys are really well-known and respected in the sneaker game. It’s kind of like a pseudo board of directors," brand director Mike O’Donnell told the Herald. "Now we’re at a point where we are really re-establishing it from a heritage standpoint. ... In the last six to nine months, a few of us have been charged with giving Pro-Keds a unique voice and, with that, reconnecting with the sneakerheads.”

For PRO-Keds, the new strategy sounds like a bit of escape from the norm, but re-establishing the shoe brant "from a heritage standpoint," hits on some of the same points driving the .

Which makes sense, as both PRO-Keds and Sperry are part of Collective Brands, which also owns Saucony and Stride Rite, among others. They are based on Spring Street in Lexington.

So, what do you all think about Keds, Sperry and news of their brand resurgence? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Never wore 'em? Let us know in the comment section below.