New Balance 574 Sneakers
Colorway: Black/Team Red · Style code: ML574HMJ · Release date: September 22, 2021 · Price: $220 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: New Balance 574 'Pennant Pack' (ML574) · New Balance 574 'Incense' (ML574AA2) · New Balance 574 'Natural Indigo Maple' (ML574AB2) · New Balance 574 'Rain Cloud Maple' (ML574AC2) · Alpha Industries x New Balance 574 'Sedona Seige Grey' (ML574AI2)
Plaid on a sneaker usually arrives as a printed panel, and that is how it works here. A check pattern fills the body of the shoe with black suede overlays laid over the top, so the fabric shows through in the gaps between toe cap, saddle and heel. Team red draws the lines in the check, the only colour anywhere on the shoe and the reason the pattern registers at all against a black ground.
New Balance released the pair on September 22, 2021 at $85, going into autumn, which is the season a plaid release is always aimed at. The suede and the ENCAP heel, soft foam with a hard polyurethane ring around it, are both unchanged from the standard build. This model takes patterned panels more easily than most retro runners because of how it is cut: the overlays cover the areas that crease and scuff, and the flat panels left over are exactly where a repeating pattern can sit without being distorted by the shape of the foot.