New Balance Wmns 574 'Linen Rosewood'
Colorway: Linen/Rosewood · Style code: WL574QC2 · Release date: February 15, 2024 · Price: $161 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: New Balance Wmns 574 'Sea Salt Real Pink' (WL5742BA) · New Balance Wmns 574 'Pink Sugar' (WL5742BB) · New Balance Wmns 574 'Reflection Spring Sky' (WL5742BC) · New Balance Wmns 574 Rugged 'Angora Granite' (WL574AA2) · New Balance Wmns 574 'Bright Lavender' (WL574AG2)
Linen is the pale, faintly yellow neutral it sounds like, and rosewood is a red-brown pulled back until it lands closer to dried clay than to anything bright. Between them they cover the whole shoe, the darker tone on the overlays and the lighter one behind, which is how this model is coloured more often than not. What makes the pairing work is that both sit on the warm side, so the contrast is a matter of depth rather than of temperature.
New Balance released the pair on February 15, 2024 at $90. Underneath is the standard retro build with ENCAP at the heel, cushioning foam fenced in by a stiffer polyurethane surround, on a shape that has not been redrawn since it first went on sale as the value option in the brand's off-road 500 series. Muted earth palettes have taken a large share of the women's line on this model, and the reason is straightforward: the silhouette is already bulky, and a colourway that recedes keeps that volume from becoming the only thing anyone notices.