crooked tongues magazine News Features

"Our latest shoe will protect you against injury for longer than any other shoe. Assuming the price doesn't kill you." They weren't joking either. The 1300 holds a special place in our hearts. A really special place. Like the adidas Forum it's a pioneer in the pricetag stakes, one of the godfathers of the new breed of performance pieces you could only aspire to own unless you were spoilt, sold drugs or were dead serious about the sports the sneakers were built for. In 1984 this shoe broke the bank, but this design was totally cutting-edge. We had to feature this on the site, even though we're a little late to the party - once again, please excuse us - we're in the midst of prepping the new and improved Crooked Tongues, and it's killing our new release alertness. This might be the greatest retro we've ever seen. Don't get us wrong - we're big on the Flimby-made version - we even know a couple of runners that still swear by this model, but this is that whole next level of attention-to-detail that only the guys from New Balance Japan could bring.

In these Real McCoy's/Joe McCoy, Free & Easy days, and with a fixation on all things vintage, we'd expect the pathologically accurate reproduction to trickle to sneakers. Especially with the retro market making up such a big part of the business at trend level, but for the most part, most of the remakes have been more akin to Tim Burton's 'Planet of the Apes' embarrassment than anything to be proud of. We hear the same excuses - quality control, factories, lost lasts yada, yada, yada....and then a shoe like this appears. This US-made beauty is just staggering. First there's the box, recreated as it was the first time around. To the layman, the shoe itself is innocuous - grey, plain and a potentially easy wear. There's no crass teabag-effect attempts at vintaging either. That's not to all tastes, and why remake the unwanted elements of lengthy storage when you can bring out the very best in a shoe?

Check the counter reinforcer - 8 bars on the NB logo, plus the restored amount of ridges. Double stitching has been restored on the heel panel, and the rectangular box shape of stitches is back near the tongue and mesh toebox. The 'N' is a little chubbier, and the stitching on it curves a little more. The outsole is Vibram again, and the original font is back on the tongue with a 14 bar version of the NB - even the original washing instructions are back on the rear of the tongue. Crack in its footwear form. Did they need to go to these lengths to restore the shoe? Yes they did, even if it's just to make their bigger budget competitors look daft. When these dropped in Japan earlier in the month, folk lost their damned minds and they sold out immediately. We're pleased to report that we're getting some in-store tomorrow (low, low numbers though) - great news, as it's a project we wholeheartedly support, and while the £150 pricetag should bring about an equally accurate retro of the heavy exhale the RRP generated on its debut, but seeing as this bad boy was pushing £100 when it dropped 26 years ago, and the quality is totally intact, if you only grab one reissued runner this year, make it this one.