New Balance 574 'Timberwolf Workwear'
Colorway: Timberwolf/Workwear · Style code: ML574PO2 · Price: $238 · 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)
Tonal is the operating principle. Timberwolf and Workwear are both New Balance earth names, and putting them together on one suede upper produces a shoe with almost no contrast: grey-brown against khaki, with the sidewall N picked out barely a step from the panel behind it. Laces and midsole stay in the same family. The result works as a neutral rather than as a colour statement, which is how a large share of this model's catalogue is built.
Suede is the material the 574 is most associated with, and for good reason. The original upper pattern came off the 576, a shoe whose overlays were cut from pigskin to survive rough ground. Underneath, ENCAP does the stability work: a soft EVA core sealed behind a stiffer polyurethane wall, so the heel gives without rolling. New Balance listed this pair at $80. There is no collaborator here and no story attached to it, which is the point of the version; it is the one that sells quietly all year, and an earth palette is a large part of why.