About

A low basketball shoe with a triangle as its signature

The Prada Downtown is the classic leather court sneaker as Prada designs it: a low silhouette in the tradition of the leather basketball shoe, like the Nike Air Force 1, but rendered in smooth leather and finished with the enameled triangle logo on the side. That emblem is the focal point of the design; the rest is deliberately kept clean and spare. The tongue reads “Prada Milano”, and the brand name is printed again on the midsole.

Leather or Re-Nylon, that changes the character

The Downtown comes in two main materials, and that defines its character. In smooth leather it looks neat and slightly formal; in Re-Nylon, the brand’s recycled nylon, it becomes sportier and softer, with leather details on the toe and heel. The shape remains the same in both: the same cupsole, the same little triangle, the same perforated toe.

The cupsole does the heavy lifting

Beneath the leather sits a sturdy rubber cupsole that wraps the upper, with the brand name printed on the side. It gives the shoe a slight lift and the broad, cushioned base of a true court shoe, without the bulk of a modern chunky sneaker and without the boot sole of the Prada America’s Cup, the house’s other well-known sneaker model.

Low and high

Besides the familiar low version, the Downtown is also available as a high, with the same construction but a collar that sits over the ankle. If you want the classic sneaker look, choose the low; if you want more presence, the high. The rest of the design—the leather, the cupsole and the triangle—carries over.

What differs by version

The shape, the cupsole and the logo stay the same across versions. What varies is the material—leather, Re-Nylon or a washed delavé finish—and the shaft height. Place two versions side by side and the distinction is in the material and the cut, not in the fundamentals.

On this page you can see which versions of the Prada Downtown are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, the starting price at which they can be found and in how many shops they are in stock.