New Balance 550
New Balance also has basketball sneakers on offer? Of course, the brand specializes mainly in running silhouettes, but can also score in other segments. The brand's first basketball sneaker had the name 480 and was released in 1983. Shortly after, New Balance 650, another high-top sneaker with the legendary N on the side, followed.
With the New Balance 550, followed the trend of the industry to design a low top counterpart to the high-top models. This also happened with the Nike Dunk or the adidas Forum. In 1989, the time had come and the New Balance 550 was available in stores. The concept, came from Steven Smith, one of the most important sneaker designers of the past 30 years.
Actually, one would have thought that an American brand like New Balance would have more basketball models. The market for these models was huge in America and with the NBA, its players and fans, there was also a large target group to boost sales. However, this idea was not pursued, probably because the model lacked technical innovations and the New Balance 550 fell into oblivion. This would probably still be the case today, if a certain Teddy Santis hadn't revived it. With his label Aime Leon Dore, he had already worked on various New Balance collaborations, especially targeting the "Made in USA" models. A picture of the 550 in a Japanese New Balance catalog was more or less the only clue about the model's existence. After intensive research, Santis managed to acquire an original of the model. From this, the model was rebuilt from scratch and Santis' meticulousness for details made it necessary to make at least 10 revisions before the model was relaunched as a retro sneaker.
Teddy Santis and his label were allowed to take over the beginning in 2020 and from then on, all sneaker lovers worldwide had taken a liking to the New Balance 550. The trend towards chunkier sneakers is here to stay and the NB 550 serves this trend perfectly. Whether a leather or suede upper, solid color or something more colorful, the model always looks good.
