New Balance 1500 Grey/White/Red

Not usually a fan of New Balance, but these 1500's are kinda fresh! I love the colors used for this sneaker. It's bold yet simple. These are out now at select shops.




pics via Nice Kicks

New Balance 420s out for Fall

Some nice old school colorways on this sleek suede and nylon 70s running shoe from New Balance... Nice price too. ($60.00 at Zappos starting in August.)

New Balance pioneers sonic welding on 574s

New Balance is pioneering a new "Sonic" technology, a greener way to make their shoes. Previously used for technical clothing, tents and industrial fabrics, sonic welding is an environmentally friendly alternate to sewing or gluing. The process of heat and pressure application to the seams of pattern pieces fuses the shoe together cutting out waste and crafting the sonic welded shoe to be airtight and watertight (and lightweight!)



Women's 410s also available with sonic welding.

NB Element 576 Collection launching

No time to write much before I hop on a plane, but these are too pretty to miss. I really love the water one myself; it's so clean and spring like. Come on Spring...

These remind me of the ST33s that NB did last year, maybe a little simpler, but keeping with a nicely textured material story and Asian theme (from the Taoist principles of the elements, and with each shoe including the Chinese symbol for the element). Check them out...

Water


Wood

Earth

Knowing NB, they'll probably start in a men's 7.

NB ST33 Luggage Pack Launch in Beantown

This quarter's NB Super Team 33 is designed by Jon Grondin , representing the U.S. Region. His inspiration came from one of last year's ST33 parties, or more specifically, from sitting in an airport on the way home. He got to people watching, (which for some of us means sneaker watching), but since he's a designer and materials guy, he was luggage watching. Lucky for us he saw some very practical--and luxurious--materials! Here's what they inspired (on a 998 silhouette, for NB afficianados...)


I can personally assure you that the leather on the toe of this one (above) is the softest leather I have ever felt! I also like the 3M and cordura on the one on the far left. (But I'm still happy to leave home without some reptile skin luggage, which also reminds me of my mom's phaux-something address books from back in the day.)

The party had a solid crowd, but was a little short on sneaker content and sneaker heads. Nevertheless, I managed to find a few women wearing kicks, and a few sneaker friends from the Boston scene... (thanks to FSFer Kiara for all the pics.)

Me and C, a knowledgable sneakerhead from Concepts Store in Harvard Square. Here's to women who can actually drop knowledge about kicks instead of just be window dressing!

These were the only women we saw in kicks! Otherwise it was high-heel-pointy-toe city.

Here's part of the NB crew, including Joe (left) who's now in charge of the NB Lifestyle division, and Lauren, who's the one who got us our Chicken Runs for y'all...

Rob, aka Problak, serious collector and graf artist, still reppin' the 3 stripes at a NB party

Can't leave out Kiara, FSFer for life who always knows how to have a good time (with our friend Kwest)

NB "Factory Plaid" Collection

The other day a casual sneakerhead said she heard that New Balance had been bought out and that they no longer make shoes here in the US. I had to tell her SHE HEARD WRONG! And right in time, here are some kicks to prove it: these limited edition releases pay homage to the 3 New England factories making NB kicks--Skowhegan, Maine, Norridgewock, Maine and Lawrence, Massachusetts. (They were made in Skowhegan.)
I can say as a New Englander that the choice of plaid (by designer Andrew Nyssen), is a fun way to tip your hat to all us Nor'easterners who rock our lined plaid jackets and act like it's not cold out! Of course, most of the old skoolers who wore plaid before it came back as trendy are still rocking their old white and navy NBs... but for the rest of us, here goes:





I love the plaid visible through the sole. They're retailing at $150, and the smallest size is a men's 7 (woohoo!)