Trainers, sneakers, daps, runners, call them what you like. We’ve been fawning over mint moccasins and brilliant boots this last couple of years but sports footwear like New Balance tick very similar boxes when it comes to manufacture, attention to detail and something that just looks good. Our appreciation for what they do is long-held. We stocked them in our old Tib Street shop for a time, several years back.
Although New Balance is based in Boston, Massachusetts, it could easily be described as a British company. Founded by English immigrant William J. Riley in 1906, the company continues to manufacture shoes in both the US and the UK. The New Balance UK HQ has been situated in the coastal town of Flimby, Cumbria for almost 30 years. The factory there produces around 28,000 pairs of shoes every week. New Balance originally named each shoe based on the RRP. These days though, it is said the higher the number, the better quality shoe. If the shoe has a higher number, it will be more comfortable and made to a higher specification.
With the summer now kicking off it’s annual standoff with spring, we reckoned it’d be a good time to offer an alternative to pumps and crepe soles, starting with these New Balance 998.
Some nice archive images too, check ‘em out.
