Last year's cleverest no-brainer. We like Vans. We like Carhartt. Thus duck twill replacing the usual canvas and suede had a lot of mileage. The trade show leaks from eons ago had us salivating - somehow the two brands carried glorious parallels in terms of no-frills, utilitarian pieces that managed to infiltrate the trend sector via timeless design and integrity. We’re just surprised this never happened earlier.

The following interview with James, Wilfried and Mohamed from Carhartt Europe was run in August 2008 on the site, but it’s so informative, it deserves a reprise.


Why do you think Carhartt twill and the duck twill have become so iconic?

Mohamed I will talk for myself. I saw Carhartt products in videos from US, rappers from France,even my older brother. I wanted my part of the US style that made my heart beat through the music. I also wanted to be different to the other kids. Carhartt was the perfect piece. First time I wear my older brother's Car Lux at school I was like untouchable! Why does it still work? There are 2 reasons. First growing in Europe, Carhartt stayed a standard. It’s a brand that everyone can wear or to be more specific that everyone can adapt to his style.Then quality pays!

What's your take on the current state of 'streetwear'?

James Largely ephemeral. It's currently dominated by brands that are new. It's just the state of the market. People like new things. Consumers of streetwear like to consume things that haven't existed for a long period of time. I personally hope that there's going to be a change in terms of quality and heritage. I don't know whether it's going to be a cry in the dark - I hope not, but I love the heritage aspect of Carhartt certainly, and of course Vans.

Are brands without a utilitarian purpose - 'streetwear' for it's own sake fundamentally flawed because of that? Maybe away from carrying a skate or surf background too...

James I see the same business model applied to quite a few clothing brands as in grow them, make them as big as possible and in two years, sell them. I'm not saying it's a flawed approach - it's a business approach, but it doesn't speak to me. It doesn't do anything for me. That's my personal choice and I don't think it's necessarily reflected by the market.

Sneakers always seem like a gateway drug - kids getting excited about sneakers, about streetwear - they're learning a lot of lessons about limited product, quality of production, then they go on to pick up something a little more considered.

James This is a personal thing, a comment based on exactly what you just mentioned, but I came in through exactly what you just mentioned, working on Newburgh Street at the time, hanging out on the corner at Bond, meeting people - that was my introduction to this aspect. It was Silas that provided the gateway for me. I liked the aspect of meeting people on Newburgh Street - I liked that human connection. Now things don't take time to develop.

Now it's always sell-it, sell-it, get the 'right people' professionally photographed wearing it...it's tired.

James There's certain templates for how things should be marketed, but that's perhaps how people like Steve Rocco were so successful. They were like, "If that's how you want me to do it, I'm going to do completely the opposite!"

Why do you think workwear and vulcanized sneakers remain staple items in so many wardrobes?

James I just think it's sheer simplicity. I think it's unpretentious - especially with Carhartt, which is such a product-led product. It sounds obvious, but if you give people product, let them choose a product, don't shove it down their throat, if they're into it, let them buy it. We have the same approach to manufacturing product as the Americans. It's very important to us to make quality clothing at a decent price. It is very production-led, and it's the same for vulcanized footwear. It's just simplicity.

I think there's parallels between switching manufacturing between the US and China too, at least for Carhartt America...Carhartt's popularity as a fashion presence, particularly among US hip-hop acts seemed to peak around '92 when the Half Cab dropped, was this a coincidence?

Mohamed I was not aware about this detail. It came later. It’s a coincidence. It was what people used to wear when I was a teenager and begun to understand the dress code that fitted with things I liked - and still like. Capture? Not really. Vans is still there, Carhartt is still there too. We wanted to go further, mixing them. Carhartt and Vans are both loved by many people like me. This collab is for them - I and you.

Wilfried It's just a coincidence, because at this time, Carhartt and Vans was into two different worlds. In 1992 Vans was already into Skateboarding and BMX, while, the people discovered Carhatt in Europe through a lot of hip-hop video clips - not like a workwear brand but more like streetwear. Later, some riders started to wear Carhartt’s pants for riding, but it was not only for the style - our pant in canvas and twill was rugged with a low price. That's why the kids, riders and hip-hoppers, at least people from the street started to wear Carhartt not like a workwear brand, but like a streetwear brand.

James Given the shoes that were chosen there's definitely parallels. Carhartt was massive around that time - in a period when marketing wasn't so sophisticated as it is now you could not have done a better job if you had millions and millions of Euros. Just think about Mike Caroll in a pair of Half Cabs wearing a Carhartt watchcap, or Henry Sanchez. The two are synonymous I think. And the music with its aesthetic worked so well in the early 90's.

Did you have any plans to place Carhartt duck canvas on a sneaker before the less official SB version?

Mohamed First,as you said the collab was unofficial.If someone asked me about the Nike SB, I would say no.I really like Nike SB actually - I get few pairs. But we wanted to keep it real and logical. Logical because we use to do things, a contest or exhibition, with Vans. We have riders in common. Real because 15 years ago, Vans and Carhartt were already there, worn by the same people.

Wilfried First, the Nike SB was an unofficial collab', the sneaker addict called them the 'Carhartt SB' on a different website or blog. But it wasn't a partnership between Carhartt and Nike. We had the idea before the Nike SB to do a collab with a sneaker brand but it was not so easy to make our choice. So we decided to wait and see what will happen. And after some partnership with Vans, on Skateboarding and BMX contests through Europe, naturally, the idea came.

James None to my knowledge. Even back 3-4 years ago there was a significant division between Carhartt Europe and Carhartt America. We were a licensee and they were nervous about the effects of a rapidly growing Carhartt Europe on their core market. Now they've come to the conclusion that the closer we sit, the better we'll be. We never wanted to make a fashion brand out of a workwear brand - we wanted to make stuff fit for a more contemporary audience. Even with the watchcaps, we imported a lot from America then decided we didn't like how tight the rib was so we remade them a tighter rib.

Collaborations have been quite limited in terms of ones we've done before for all manner of reasons, but there's only a handful of companies it's actually worth doing them with. We can make a lot of things ourselves! But with a piece of Vans footwear it works perfectly because of the heritage.

How did this project come about? Who approached who?

Mohamed I worked for Vans and I met Arnaud from Marketing.Then I quit and started to work for Carhartt with Wilfried.I introduce them each other. Vans had planned a collaboration before we talked, but this project was so simple and supported by guys working together, knowing each other so we made it.

It was not like “hey you guys are cool,let’s do something!” For us as for Vans it’s the next step of years of collaboration like we did for the 'King of Wood' contest in France.

Wilfried Our marketing dept worked already on a lot of project together. We support some riders and events together, so during a meeting in Paris, we started to talk about the collaboration.

How long did this project take from start to finish - were any designs/ideas rejected during the sample process?

Mohamed This project took more time that we thought a year and half. We could make it before but we wanted to be ready. By 'ready' I mean focus and availability. Carhartt is like a family business - everybody helps and we had already a couple of events scheduled. September is the perfect time. Then the last few month we opened few stores in Europe so now it’s easier to find us. Rejected? Nope 'cause we found what we wanted really fast. Carhartt is 'classical' - we can’t do crazy things. People and especially our customer would not understand.

Wilfried Vans did the first sample to show us how they see the makeup of the shoes, and after we changed some details, like the ‘fire red’ colours on the sole. This red was the lining color from our original workwear stuff.

The Half-Cab and Chukka seem like a perfect duo. There seems to be a distinct audience for either...the colours bring out a Chukka's desert boot style on the upper.

James With Cabellero, and then with Geoff Rowley getting involved inspired by Matt Hensley, you've got the rebirth of Vulcanized.


Why these two Vans models? Were any other Vans shoes optioned?

Mohamed Once again it was quite easy. Carhartt Europe is a ‘casual’ ( I prefer that word to streewear) brand that invest money, time and people in skateboarding. Vans is, for us, a skateshoe brand that went really casual. In Vans’ catalog we’ve found the right shoes to switch from casual to skate’ - the Chukkas and the HC.

Others? I’m pretty sure if we made a Slip-On we would sell tons of them but we had our idea and stuck on it.

Wilfried For us, the Half Cab is the iconic skate shoe, and the Chukka sticks perfectly to Carhartt. They have a basic and timeless shape, like the Carhartt stuff.

Why did you opt to keep the midsole black?

Mohamed Carhartt is originally a workwear brand. So we wanted to make a pair to wear everyday.‘Rugged’ is our word. You can wear them all day, everyday. Carhartt canvas is made for work, Vans for skate. No need to clean – just rock them.

Did you dabble with the idea of working the cord into the shoes' designs like the cord on the traditional coat?

Wilfried No, possibly in the future…

What's the history of the brand in France? It seems to fit nicely in with Parisian street style - there seems to be plenty of diehards who love the US-made Vans pieces, and for us fellow Europeans, La Haine had Hubert Koundé rocking the watch beanie and more, and that helped us associate the brand with the city...

Wilfried We started to distribute Carhartt in the early 90’s in France, with a selective distribution, cool multi-brands and skate shops

At this time the hip hop culture was very good and strong in France - movie like La Haine gave us a lot of street credibility to the people who didn’t know the brand before.

Beyond the old Tommy Boy jackets and customised tour jackets for Depeche Mode tour crew, with the Sophnet, Stussy/Haze, BAPE, Head Porter, plus this Vans stuff and the forthcoming Burton and Ransom bits, has Carhartt finally realised the collaborative potential of the brand?

James There's been a lot of internal debate for a long period of time as to whether we should indulge in collaborations - the BAPE stuff was done by a licence holder in Japan, the Porter stuff was done by us but only for a Japanese release. There was the Gallery 1950 stuff which was done - a few snowboard jackets that looked really nice. Apart from a UK project on a bike with Witcomb cycles, there's nothing further planned from here - we work with designers, Will Kemp, Eric Elms on our graphics...and as for the old Tommy Boy promo jackets, I'd really really like one.

As for promo stuff, we still do it, but we don't publicize it - merchandise companies will still buy jackets for the road staff, like the most recent stuff was a Foo Fighters one for the road staff we did last year. We don't publicize it because I still view ourselves in quite a workwear sense and I don't want to hype up stuff - if you push something too hard it snaps.

To clarify - what's the difference between Carhartt Europe and America?

James The deal is, it's a licensing deal. We are still subject to approval on our line. It's a very relaxed approach and the two companies are working more and more closely over the years. The option to open stores in the States is still being held open. We make most of the cotton goods in Turkey, Greece and Tunisia pants made in Tunisia, all the tees and sweats in Turkey and Greece. We buy it in Euros. Buy in Euros and end it to the States for retail...it's not going to work. Until that situation changes, we'll see. There's big things coming internationally.

It's so undocumented in many ways, that there's no real precedent. There's so much vintage Carhartt to be discovered.

James Definitely. Digging for vintage stuff is how I get my kicks these days.

What's your favourite Carhartt piece?

Mohamed Watch cap logo beanie.

Wilfried The original worker pant, single knee pant and the watch cap beanie.

James A handpainted 1970's camo jacket, which is deluxe. A crazy, crazy piece.

It's bizarre to think something so desired now, like an old utilitarian pair of jeans would be so throwaway once.

James The 1920's stuff, instead of having hearts on the buttons, they had heart-shaped buttons - removable pin buttons. The 1940's jackets have pink bar tacking on them. For such a functional workwear piece, why were they putting pink bar tacking on them? It makes the piece look so much better. It gives it an extra dimension, but why do that on workwear? But that's the charm of the label.

There's an eccentricity at work there. For such a meat and potatoes brand it's an unexpected touch. What's your favourite Vans shoe?

Mohamed Chukka.

Wilfried Chukka and Mid Skool.

James Half Cab - the Half Cab with the Syndicate sole is my favourite shoe for riding. They're wonderful, wonderful, wonderful functional shoes. They last a long time too. Every other skate brand under the sun has done a Half Cab 'homage' and if they don't do that, they do a Caroll rip. Every company makes a Half Cab. At the time it came out, if you consider what an Airwalk 720 looked like - the Half Cab was a lo-fi shoe, but it has a lot going on with the paneling.

With these designs, there's a leather patch that hasn't been done before. The red sole comes from the lining of the Michigan and Santa Fe jackets.

The quilted lining was often red, that's on the denim and the Carhartt brown stuff. Sales-wise, I'm not sure which was more successful - the patterned blanket lining or the quilt. The Santa Fey was the short cropped jacket with the Western detail cut into the top. They've got the colours bang-on.

Cardiel is an undisputed legend. The Half Cab is a CT Crew favourite. Throw a legit Pendleton woolen plaid on the shoe, complete with the distinctive old world branding, in line with John's preference for the brand, and you've got a banger. This Syndicate version represents the best of the Cab shapes, and the high quality gives it greater longevity.

Having rocked the brand long before it became something of a hipster staple, in line with Syndicate's shrewd choice of co-conspirators, Thrasher's '92 Skater Of The Year made perfect sense as a collaborator. The inclusion of a third partner for an added application with an air of authenticity was extra effort that paid dividends.

It isn't the first Vans shoe to use the Oregon-based wool mill, and adidas and lately Nike have had a go too, indicating there's more to come, but this is easily the best. Why? It just makes sense. The accompanying Sk8 His were fresh too, but these are the best in the set.

We shot some questions at Mr Cardiel, and he replied in a zen style that borders on haiku...

Who approached who for the project? Because you've been down with Vans for a while now…

Vans Asked If I was Interested In Doing A Syndicate Shoe Showcasing My Ideas On Three Different Shoes...The Choice Was Natural.

How did the idea to use Pendleton wool plaid come about?

I Have Been wearing Pendeltons Since I was A Child My Father And His Brothers Used To Wear Them, I Wanted To Be Like Them.

As a fan, were you tempted to give the shoe some dancehall elements?

No…This Shoe Was Pretty Straight Forward, Once We Got The Go Ahead From Pendelton It Was On...

Another 'update' of a favourite, this melds the '08 Pegasus 25 sole onto an upper steeped in OG Pegasus DNA. Mesh, reflective elements, seamless elements, an attached heel/Swoosh, this proved that Nike were intent on bringing performance, trend and heritage together without prejudice. Nike+ compatibility and great packaging actually elevated the buying experience too. They're on i-D too. These feel like the handiwork of a team who truly revere the source material, and as such, work beautifully.


Interview with Andreas Harlow -Creative Director for Nike Running - In 7 years at Nike he's worked in Basketball, Sportswear and now Running. Some of his recent designs you may recognize are: the early Considered line (Considered BB, Considered 2k5 etc), the Zoom BB 1 & 2 in basketball and some of the early 'hybrid' designs in sportswear.

The original Pegasus is definitely a 'sacred 'design, especially in the UK - did you feel the pressure in updating the shoe? There definitely seems to be some reverence in the way the SE accentuates some of the most iconic elements of the shoe.

The idea with this shoe was to celebrate 25 years of this important model. So, yes there was some pressure because it's a big part of Nike history, an important shoe for the Nike brand & also for our business.


Craig Conahan and I wanted to pay homage to the past and you can see that in the aesthetics. But we were adamant that it had to be a forward thinking design. In the end, most of this 'hint to the future' was expressed through advanced construction techniques. For example, the upper utilizes no-sew technology which allows us to make the shoe with very few stitched seams. We bond the seams instead. This makes the inside of the shoe very smooth & increases comfort. No-sew is something our apparel teams have been using for years.

No-sew also has an environmental advantage in that there are less chemical vapours produced in production. And there is less manual labour because this new process utilizes more automated manufacturing. This has the advantage of making the shoes more consistent, so each pair will fit & feel more consistent. This is something runners often ask us for, they want the shoe to fit the same every time they buy a new one.

We're on the cusp of a potentially big change in shoe manufacturing if we are able to implement this kind of technology appropriately. No-sew technology in footwear has limited production capacity right now, so a project like this with lower quantities was perfect.


How long does a project like this take from brief to final sample?

About 1.5 years.

The attached heel tab and Swoosh is a great touch - beyond performance, is this part of the Considered state-of-mind in minimizing materials used?

Actually this construction was driven mostly by performance. We bonded the Swoosh onto the shoe to reduce seams which can cause irritation. Combining the heel tab & swoosh made sense because it uses less parts. We also made the Swoosh reflective for safety in low light conditions.

The current Pegasus midsole used on the current range, with its waffle homage and flex grooves seems to be informed by the Free system - is it going to get further outings on models in 2009?

Yes, you will be seeing more of this midsole and outsole combination in the near future, with some improvements planned. We have learned a lot from Nike Free. The concept of "natural motion" has informed footwear across the running line. It's quite clear when you look at products like the Air Vomero and the current Air Pegasus.

As for Waffle tread, to be honest for shoes in this price range, we still haven't found any design that works better than waffle tread. If it ain't broke...

Was the SE designed with performance in mind? It definitely feels like a performance piece, but obviously the Pegasus 25 is the one with running in mind...

The Peg 25 SE is 100% performance product. We chose to simplify the design based on runner's feedback and new methods of manufacturing - so it looks a bit different than the normal Peg. But don't be mistaken. This shoe is designed & tested to the same standards as our other Core running products.

It feels like the Pegasus range has shifted back as a more aesthetically pleasing collection after a few years where the 'serious running' element was, understandably, placed over aesthetic appeal - was this a conscious decision?

We made aesthetic choices along the way that hopefully appeal to everyday runners. Some runners & retailers are convinced a running shoe has to look a certain way to be a 'performance product'. Basically a very 'busy' design. But performance doesn't necessarily have to be obvious or dressed up to actually be there. Sometimes it's the simple designs that are the most efficient. You see a good example now in the rise of fixed gear bicycles. Some people believe the weight saved from stripping a bike from its cogs, shifters, etc. outweighs the benefits of multiple gears.

As I mentioned above, the aesthetics of this project really were primarily driven from the use of new construction techniques and the desire to create an alternative to runners who want simpler designs. But of course the choice of the original colours and some of the details were intended to honour the first Pegasus. Although we didn't make a lot of these shoes, it is an important product because the Pegasus garners significant attention. The innovation in this shoe could potentially have greater impact on the company and, in turn, the industry.

This shoe is banger. It's also very, very underrated. The ZX 7000 is a shoe that seems more accustomed to the gentle touch - the dandy of ZX Torsions. Team Patta weren't playing that sh*t. High quality leathers, an unorthodox choice of bold colours, suede 3-Stripes a clear outsole, and cue the thunder and lightning - an all-white midsole. We like white midsoles and shoes that don't get gnarled in the clubs and in rainy London Town. Synth-suede and mesh is nice, but it's easy to annihilate. The design inspiration is a subject matter close to our hearts, and getting Saigon to do an ad drop didn't hurt either.



Interview with Gee from Patta

The choice of ZX 7000s definitely made an interesting choice from glory hunters like us who wanted the dual technologies of the ZX 9000s - did you Patta crew have a personal history with the design?

Choice for the 7000 was both out of nostalgia - most of us always liked this shoe. What also was very important was the challenge. Most of the shoes we've done or are doing are not as technical as this specific shoe. Herein
lay the challenge...

What was the original intent behind the makeup? We heard there was a technical jacket theme? Were there any alterations from your original design to the finished article?

The colourway comes from a colour inspiration I had from a Seinfeld episode - in this episode they get lost in a parking space... the characters in this series have the worst taste. Jerry is wearing a red t-shirt , a jacket with the specific green colour and the collar of the jacket was purple. When I saw this colour scheme, I wrote it down as '90's technical jacket Seinfeld colour scheme' - the rest is history...

We wanted the shoe to be more technical - waterproof material (GORE-TEX) and leather with rubberised feel, so the general feel of the shoe was intended to be rougher. We just didn't have enough lead time...the good colour scheme saved our ass (laughs). No, but the outcome was how we intended the feel - wearable Patta craziness with a good idea behind it (laughs).


The white midsole was definitely a risky choice - was that a reference to anything in particular?

We just like runners with white midsoles. It won't get crazier then speckles with us. White midsoles is our base most of the time. You will see when you look at our past colabs of us. And you will see it in the future too...

Can we expect more Patta shoe product in '09?

'09 we definitely gonna do some more shoe product - it's our 5th anniversary year. The colabs are a team effort and we reppin' for the people that are reppin' us and been reppin' us...big up!

Available in the CT Store now.

Obviously this shoe has a great deal of resonance with CT that harks back to long before the '04 colab, and as it was the 576's 20th birthday, this was a suitable celebration. Check the shape, the sole unit and the UK-made build quality. Navy and grey were perfect, the 'vintage' effect was kept to the rear, and this represents one of the best shoes of all time in one of its best makeups. Classy enough to convert the disillusioned, still walking around dazed by tiers, rollouts and number games, NB earnt plenty of deserved fandom with this while keeping the Flimby faithful happy. A crowdpleaser. If all shoes were this good, we'd be very happy indeed.


Interview with Robert Ward, European Lifestyle Category Manager, New Balance -

Who commissioned this duo?

The project started out a couple of years ago, such is the nature of product development timelines, as a discussion between ourselves and our friends at NB Japan, recognising that it would be the 20th anniversary of our legendary 576 in 2008, and wanting to make sure we gave it a sufficient birthday leg up.

We decided it would be a nice touch for NB UK to work on the 'past' series, seeing as that's what we historically do best with our handcrafted, UK manufactured product in our Flimby factory, and then Japan would work on the more futuristic series, playing on their own strengths, showing what the 576 could look like all teched up 20 years from now.

The whole past series definitely felt like something that the NB fanatics on our forums were calling out for - did that have any bearing on the release?

We like to keep an eye on what you boys tell us, even if sometimes you don't hold back! Seriously though, the forums are a key barometer or pulse of the consumers that buy our product and shape the future direction of the market, and some of the people that regularly post about NB are as knowledgeable and passionate about our brand as many of our own employees, so if we didn't stay in touch and honour their requests we know we'd be failing them and not doing our job. The UK forums and other Northern European markets like Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark etc seemed to be increasingly turning away from the the hype and bling in favour of more subtle, sophisticated, timeless classic product, which is what Made in the UK has always been known for, so for us it was a natural choice. We did something similar with our Made in UK collection for our Centenary which was well received, so when the time came to honour such an iconic shoe as the 576 it seemed like a natural extension of that theme.

It's interesting that the heel cap was aged, while the midsole was pretty pristine - did you dismantle/reproduce an original pair to create this duo?

As you might expect, our friends in Japan had a sacred original pair locked away in their archives. It took us several attempts at begging to release them for an overseas trip to Flimby, but eventually after signing in blood that we'd look after them and return them in 100% good shape, we got our hands on the beauties. The midsoles were degrading pretty badly and very fragile, but the midsole colour was still in good shape, whilst the heel counter was very yellowy and discoloured, suffering the effects of the ageing process that eventually comes to all of us! Our developers then set about to replicate the look of this pair as faithfully as possible, hence the look of the finished product in 2008.

Will the same sole unit be used on forthcoming Flimby 576s? We know sole
units ain't cheap...

You're not wrong, sometimes upwards of $100,000 or more, it's a costly business and if you get one wrong it can be an expensive mistake. Fortunately we had the sole units still available from Japan, but even still had to invest a fair amount in tooling and kit in our UK factory to make the uppers and adjust the patterns to fit the different sole unit, which is different to the one we'd been using in recent years at Flimby with our own 576's. Since then, we've reverted back to the more regular Flimby 576 pattern, which is a bit slimmer and slightly more technical, but whilst it's not been used since I'm sure there will be outings for the OG unit further down the line.

The Hypebeast NB 'summit' from earlier in the year indicated that NB UK would be digging in the archives a bit - any hints as to what's next?

Sure, no secrets with us. The New Year sees the re-introduction of the 850, one of the best sellers from our more techy early 90's running archives, an era close to my own heart when I first caught the bug myself as a young teenager with a few quid in his pocket and an unhealthy passion for a vis tech midsole. The 850 reissue is a great example of how we do listen to what the loyal NB heads ask of us (you know who you are), and whilst we can never do everything that gets requested, don't get disheartened and keep the ideas flowing. Also next year we'll bring back a shoe called the 455 which is an old trail runner from the late 70's which we've high hopes for, as it creates a kind of bridge between our bulkier traditional Made in UK models like the 576/1300/990 series and the more commercial slimmer product currently selling well for us like the 410 and 420. Looking further ahead towards the back end of next year, the 577 and 1500 will be getting a welcome return, along with another 90s runner called the 510 and an increasing outpouring of our heritage court product from the indoor, tennis and basketball archives.

While this is a celebratory shoe, was this created as a reaction to some of the gaudier releases from other brands?

Loaded question if ever there was one! When you say other brands do you really mean that or are you referring to NB? We try not to speak for other brands to be honest, we have healthy respect for everyone that's prepared to have a go in this industry, whether young start-ups or old heritage stalwarts, but they do what they do and we concentrate on getting on with our own game and not being afraid to tread an alternative path if we feel it's right for us. All I can say is that every market is different, every consumer has their own opinion, and if we want to be truly global we have to respect that and try to create product for different tastes, accepting that there will always be haters out there, but making sure we've always got something in the bag for our purist loyal consumers who's hard earned cash and support has got NB to where it is today.

That said, we're definitely seeing demand in many places for a return to the more simple, timeless, premium tonal product without too many bells and whistles, and that's certainly being catered for in our product development as we move forward into next year and beyond. Made in the UK New Balance is a natural place for that type of product to exist, and it's surely no coincidence that we're currently seeing unprecedented demand for manufacturing slots in our Flimby factory from our markets and retailers all over the world.

Any more 'vintage' treatments planned?

Not so much 'vintage', but plenty of 'original' and 'heritage'. For instance I imagine there'll be plenty of people doffing their caps to the return of the UK Made 577 in it's original navy/grey colourway next Autumn, and likewise OG colourways of some of our newer 90s running models which will be hitting shelves in 2009. However, if you don't innovate and look to the future you get overtaken by more hungry competitors, so we'll also be balancing out the heritage line with plenty of innovative fresh new product, particularly from our new creative directors DDC Lab from NYC, using futuristic & intelligent technical fabrics on some of our classic models to keep things fresh. So hopefully plenty for everyone, all in keeping with the current Christmas spirit!