crooked tongues magazine News Features

The New Balance Undefeated 1500 mixes a few things we thought we'd have tired of by now and makes them pretty appealing. These aren't our pics, and we missed the opportunity to stock them (it won't happen again) but they're nice enough to warrant inclusion. Plus we owe our friends at New Balance a favour (watch this space folks) - New Balance US seem to be making up for lost time at the moment. They might lack the finesse of the Flimby-made variant, but these Asian built makeups are still pretty appealing - they're certainly trying to fix those colossal Anglo-Asian shape differences, and that renders the pricing to these reasonable. Having seen so many 1500s drop lately, and as the shoe stays incredibly popular, we still can't get enough of it - it's still one of the best silhouettes to rework - plenty to play with, but tough to perfect.

LA's Undefeated have toyed with military apparel before (their MA-1 themed Jordan IV is one of the greatest collaborations ever made), and having clocked a copy of Michael Herr's superior 'Dispatches' on the World of Sport Arkitip blog, they're pretty serious about the subject. This time they've turned their attention to Operation Desert Storm. Whatever your opinion of the conflict being referenced, war has given us some great design. The DBDU 'Chocolate Chip' pattern hasn't been the most popular from a trend standpoint, but it works well on the lining here - Vans Syndicate absolutely killed it playing with the same theme, down to the lining and addition of suede for a '90s army boot feel, on a Mid-Skool in 2006.

The speckles busy things up a tad, but that sandy, granular look doesn't seem totally unnecessary. The pop colour alongside the shades of brown ups the patriotism levels too. James, Eddie and the team seem like the last folks to still be able to execute a high concept sneaker well. These aren't on on the plateau of the hard-to-obtain Japanese Undefeated New Balance 580 jumpoffs in association with their famous friends, but they're a good start for a partnership between the American wing of the boutique empire, and we don't think it's the last double label between the brands either. If they've wetted your appetite, check the New Balance selection in-store here, and the coming season is one of the best yet - we'll be picking out some selections for News coverage too.