Stone Island's New Balance Skate Shoe Is a Techy Beauty
Stone Island’s latest sneaker collaboration with New Balance doesn’t follow the same pattern as its previous dad shoe-centric releases. This time around, the duo is moving into skateboarding shoes with a maritime twist.
New Balance Numeric, a skateboarding line created by the American sportswear label in 2013, is combining with Stone Island's sailing-inspired Marina diffusion line. Yes, this is where hard-wearing sailing-inspired equipment meets equally hard-wearing skate shoes.
The New Balance Numeric 272 provides the base for this unconventional mixing of sports. A minimalist, retro basketball-infused skate shoe, the model receives a substantial technical redesign for this collaboration.
The upper of the shoe is now split into two, the bottom half crafted from suede while the top half utilizes hard-wearing, stitch-and-turn polyester canvas. And in typical Stone Island fashion, both the polyester canvas and New Balance’s “N” logo are light reactive (reflective and color-changing fabrics are basically a prerequisite for any good Stoney collection).
Elsewhere on the techy skate shoe is a vulcanized construction, an engineered outsole designed to enhance board feel, and insoles made with NB’s premium Ortholite technology, providing extra cushioning.
Available in three colorways (mustard yellow, navy blue, and slate grey), the shoe is set to be released on June 18 in select Stone Island stores and online (make sure to register on the Italian label’s website to buy a pair).
There’s no collaborative clothing with the drop, as has been the case with previous releases, but the sneakers are directly informed by Stone Island Marina’s latest collection. So, if you’re on the hunt for matching Stone Island gear, that’s your place to look.
This skateboarding collection is a new direction for this longstanding collaboration but, then again, there is ample precedent for New Balance and Stoney to create high-performance sportswear.
Previous Stone Island New Balance collaborations included high-tech running shoes, for instance, while a recent team-up encompassed both football boots and a full football kit. Now, the two have moved onto a new sport.
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