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words // Sara Accettura
images // Zac Dubasik
Last week, in NYC, Zac Dubasik and I were among the first group of people to color up our very own New Balance 574s, which will be arriving on our doorsteps in a matter of days. While we had to travel to NYC for the experience, starting this week, you can customize your very own pair from the comfort of home. And the best part? You'll receive them in about four to eight business days, from the company’s Norridgewock, Maine factory.
The US574 is the brand’s first customizable athletic shoe, and according to Steve Gardner, Strategic Business Unit Manager for New Balance Lifestyle, “The New Balance Custom US574 enables you to be the designer and choose from premium material and color options to personalize your own iconic New Balance 574 silhouette, a legendary shoe from the New Balance Classic collection. Once you design your US574, our associates in Norridgewock will use their high quality craftsmanship to produce it for you.”
And it’s precisely because the shoes are made in the U.S. that they can make it from your computer screen to your doorstep so quickly. So, for $114.95, you can color up the classic running silhouette of the 574, available exclusively through www.shopnewbalance.com/us574, in any of eight colors of hand-cut leather available for the upper along with the option for a leather back tab. Even the inner collar can be colored up from a few different options. Up to eight characters can be stitched onto each shoe as well, in your choice of nine embroidery threads. The base “N” is available in white, navy or black, while the top “N” and laces are available in nine colors.The US574 currently only available in men’s sizes 6.5-15 in widths D and 2E.
New Balance has made a name for itself by being the only athletic shoe company that manufacturers footwear in the U.S., employing more than 1,000 associates at five New England factories shipping approximately seven million pairs of shoes annually, which amounts to a quarter of the brand’s North American shipments. Since 1938, when New Balance produced its first pair of running shoes, domestically manufactured shoes have been produced using domestic materials when possible. For more information, visit www.newbalance.com/customUS574.
My Garrison Keillor-inspired colorway of the US574. I chose this red-based colorway to pay homage to my fellow red-shoe-wearing English major.
On display were the actual materials that will be used on the customized 574s. Here is an example of the blue leather, which will be hand cut in the Norridgewock, Maine factory.
Seen above are some examples of 574s colored up in different ways.