New Balance 550 Sneakers and Trainers | The Drop Date

The New Balance 550

Originally released in 1989 as the P550 Basketball Oxford, the New Balance 500 unfortunately didn't catch on in the first instance due to intense competition from other performance brands like Nike and Reebok.

The Rise of New Balance 550

It was Aimé Leon Dore's re-release of the New Balance 550 in 2020 that brought the model back into the public eye.
The retro-inspired, stylish low-top sneakers with smooth leather uppers, mesh lining and rubber soles made instant waves in the sneaker world, and the versatility of its neutral colorways made styling the model easy, lending further to its popularity.

New Balance 550 Collaborations

While there have been many collaborations on the New Balance 550, two of the most notable have been with New York fashion brand Aimé Leon Dore and Korean label thisisneverthat.
Dore's clean-lined 'White/Grey' and 'Neutral Green', released in 2020, became instantly popular for their stylish design.
Three colorways were dropped on the NB550 by thisisneverthat, moving away from the calmer tones normally found on the model with vibrant hues of 'Lavender', 'Green' and 'Brown'.

Inspired by the Archive

Deciding to recreate the New Balance 550 from scratch due to its lacklustre original release, Teddy Santis (of Aimé Leon Dore) managed to obtain an original pair from a collector to work from, and reintroduced the updated version in 2020.
While the design kept a lot of its old aesthetic, it's a combination of its retro-inspired yet modernised design and its variety of colorways that have endeared it to the current day crowd.
As a result of its relaunch, it has been treated to many more creative collaborations and designs, and has become one of the most popular New Balance models of all time.

Organising the Chaos

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