New Balance x Engineered Garments 990v5

This AW19, New Balance and New York based Engineered Garments join once again to present a new tonal and mismatched take on the 990v5.

Mirroring Engineered Garments commonly seen mismatched design language, the trio of colour options features a panelled patchwork like upper of smooth leather, nubuck, suede, crocodile skin-style nubuck and lizard-embossed nubuck. The 990v5 is rounded off with branded insoles, a rubberised tongue tag and a set of mismatched cotton and waxed laces.

Speaking on the story of the collaboration with New Balance on the Nepenthes site, Engineered Garments head designer Daiki Suzuki stated “I believe that the best part of New Balance shoes is its simple and modest design that matches well with any clothes. So, my design was started from the idea to add some EG touches to the design while retaining the original charm of the item.” Daiki further explains the origins of his love for patchwork like designs “I’m not sure when it began, but mix-and-match styles and asymmetric designs have always attracted me. Such sophisticated imbalances have been crucial also for EG. Since some time ago, I have often bought two pairs of the same shoes in two different colors to wear an odd-colored pair. Only just slightly asymmetric designs are my favorite. For me, such hard-to-detect features seem more playful and creative.”

The lookbook for the collaboration was shot by photographer Cam Hicks, who also held a exhibition at the Nepenthes New York store at the pre-release party for the shoe in July which featured his new photo series “For The Porch”.

The New Balance x Engineered Garments 990v5 is online now.