New Balance 'Made In The UK' M1300s

This right here, is a slab of shoe history. In 1985 when it truly hit its stride the 1300 caused a few heart palpitations at the checkout, long before they ever hit the pavement. It retailed at $130/£100. Consider that now, a pricetag like that would be enough to make someone ponder purchase rather than impulse buy - 24 years ago it was largely unthinkable to be able to shell out that kind of loot for a runner just to rock down to the pub. The epitome of top-of-the-line performance, where now a shoe with those kind of athletic credentials would wilfully sacrifice form in favour of function, the 1300 still looks phenomenal. This was the New Balance flagship; the equivalent of a BMW 7 Series with every possible tweak and optional extra thrown in too. Talk to runners who didn't just pose when the jogging boom was at its height and they'll still wax lyrical about this model and how it was the definitive shoe for its intended purpose, and how the shoes of today can't compete. Trust us, we've had that conversation with some unlikely candidates for sneaker chatter.

ENCAP cushioning and PU foam dual density doesn't mean much now to us hipster doofuses, but this shoe is still very serious indeed. The US-made A.R.C. versions, with Alife's collective knowledge of what's really real, played on that high-end heritage and the silhouette's premium, aspirational side, aided by a nifty short video on the American factory's production process. The price tag reflected how they'd taken few short cuts, though the price was well below inflation rates since the 1300's debut. But being patriotic sorts, we're rooting for Flimby-made all the way, and as New Balance themselves are keen to reinforce, "Domestic manufacturing isn't a talking point - it's a strategy for producing superior products." Amen. These versions, using a nubuck and mesh mix in grey, olive or navy are timeless in their execution. Now the wacky colourways are long gone, these are more retrospective running done very, very right and set for a January 2010 release
Via Crooked Tongues