New Balance's 990v6 is the silhouette of now and it just keeps getting better. Carhartt WIP is giving the new-school chunkster a workwear makeover and, now, here komes KITH to grant the running shoe a sandy revision.
Seen on-feet during KITH honcho Ronnie Fieg's Footwear News cover story, the KITH x New Balance 990v6 sneaker is a beauty in beige, an earth-toned masterpiece titled "Sandrift" to complement the KITH klothes that wear the same Saharan shade.
Picking right up where his previous hundred-odd New Balance collaborations left off, Fieg's KITH-ified 990v6 is dressed in a tasty tonal colorway, its panels, sole, mudguard, and "N" logo dusted in dusty browns. You can scarcely see the sneakers below Fieg's ample pant hems but they're there.
Fieg's first look was the only currently available peek at KITH's "Sandrift" 990v6 for a long while but hey, that's how these things tend to work. Previews first, release dates and prices later (or much later).
But Fieg finally unveiled the beautifully beige KITH x New Balance 990v6 on November 1, alongside a darker-tinged counterpart. Turns out, they're part of Fieg's newfound Madison Square Garden partnership. A big venue for a big collab!
The darker 990v6 is nice but KITH's beige New Balance steals the show. How can it not? Those intelligent blue pops on the sockliner are just too good.
KITH's new New Balance sneaker follows an unbelievable series of collaborations masterminded by the hundred-year-old sportswear label, with recent team-ups encompassing everything from fashion labels like Miu Miu, Issey Miyake, and Junya Watanabe to retailers like Concepts and Slam Jam to ol' pal JJJJound.
What's crazy is that as disparate as all these collaborations are — ranging from old school NB classics to next-gen climbing shoes — they're all equally excellent, demonstrative of New Balance's far-reaching appeal.
Yes, it's been quite a season for New Balance, and that's only the stuff it had planned.
How could the humble Bostonian brand expect that its profile would rocket into the stratosphere in early October following a surprise co-sign from Taylor Swift? And then another!
KITH is no less prolific, having only just launched a vast spread of sneakers itself; X-Men-themed ASICS, minimalized adidas tennis shoes, woven Birkenstock sandals, and Clarksified Sambas — that's just from the past few months' drops.
Mere hours ago, KITH unveiled its first proper watch collab, even, joining upstart timepiece label LAARVEE to create some KITH for your wrist.
If Fieg keeps on his path of rapid expansion, there'll soon be as many KITH stores as there are KITH collabs. Well, nearly as many.
