crooked tongues magazine News Features

These shoes were all meant to drop in the store tomorrow, but a couple of production issues with the Bodega version means only 3 are on sale and the Bodega version's been delayed until April. New Balance has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the popularity of its UK-made 577s and 1500s or US-made 998s, but the interest in CM999, MT580 and CM997 SMUs beyond the hardcore but devoted audience of a few years back has opened up the archives to China-made pieces too, meaning we're seeing the kind of shoes we only ever used to see on missions to Tokyo on these shores. The New Balance ML581 collection of SMUs is a case in point — these narrow, ankle hugging trail trainers are the kind of thing UK audiences used to shy away from, but we're feeling them. With some Pocketknife and Air Revaderchi feel added to the humble 574 silhouette and finished with a rugged outsole, the 581 is an odd design, but it feels like a follow-up to the MT580 that also seems to confound historians too, down to the mita involvement. And just as the MT580's Rollbar assisted foot was aimed at a different foot size and body weight, these aren't for the giants out there, but those who can wear a pair of 581s will appreciate the traction and protective fit that keeps the whole foot covered. New Balance knows hiking — from the Lou Whittaker co-sign on the Rainier and Allagash in the early 1980's to the 802 in the late 1990s, the brand has put out some hardwearing classics and these slip into that heritage like the H574 does.

Multi-brand rollouts usually leave us cold, but there's some variety on display here (bar the decision by 3 of the 4 partners to go gum, but we can't blame them). South Korea's Kasina give the 581 some houndstooth and a traditional reflective 'N' and Spain's 24 Kilates apply a traditional trail mix of green, brown, black and some Scotchlite and orange for visibility, resulting in a shoe not dissimilar to the fruits of our factory visit in late summer 2005. mita are no strangers to this kind of thing, but they go minimal with an all neutral makeup that feels like classic NB. The decision to make the light coloured toe panel a rubberised one rather than some perilous nubuck application was a wise one. It's a shame that the Bodega version has been delayed, because as ever, who's messing with this Boston boutique on the collaboration side? When the Boston crew do a colourway for the sake of it, we get the fine Saucony efforts and when they get all conceptual, they pull that off too. It's almost sickening. Their 581 gets all Patagonia on us, with the teal fleece fabric and purple suede, plus a marl cotton layer underneath for extra warmth, finished with the rubberised toe panel. It sits well with the shoe's performance intent, but crucially it just looks good from close and afar, meaning we're jealous of their knack for this kind of thing.

3 of this quartet are in the store now. Out of interest, why did the whole world snooze on the similar (and marginally better) New Balance 574 Trail back in 2007/2008? We loved that shoe (especially in the 802 style palette) and never understood the lack of excitement from elsewhere. Maybe it was just a shoe that dropped long before its time.