If these shoes were constructed in the form of a dart, they’d have just landed dead centre bull on our sartorial dartboard. Our sartboard, if you will.
With our roots in the North West, where dressing down to dress up has always had a low key but strong following, these are very much relevant to our interests. This is the sort of shoe your sister’s boyfriend’s brother wears, and that one time you met him he made a real impression on you. He knew about Shack, Arthur Lee and Love, and introduced you to the anti-establishment heritage of corduroy. He was a keen protagonist of what was once known as the luxury scruff look. He’s got a Masters in something you’ve forgotten the name of and he’s been to Venezuela once but didn’t really go into the why’s and wherefores of that trip.
Sorry where was I?
These are so far away from what the mainstream thinks is cool, they are by definition much cooler than cool. Who wants to be mainstream anyway? These will have what the late, great Gary Warnett called Streetwear Daves perplexed, which can only be a good thing. Look at the shots New Balance have commissioned to show them off. These put us in mind of Clarks Originals (especially Nature) and we’ve seen it said elsewhere they’ve got a whiff of Mephisto about them. Not sure about that, but they defo exude the same comfortable vibes you get from the French footwear kings.
And underpinning all of the mad connotations we’ve outlined here is the fact they’re not only New Balance, the de-facto brand for nerds for many a year, but they’re also made here in the UK.
In a parallel universe there’s a still-open branch of Oi Polloi, outside which loads of record collectors, artisan breadmakers, carpenters and brewers have already started queuing for a pair of these.
Get your pair next week, launching on the 20th at New Balance.
