Happy late Thanksgiving!
Here's the fourth and final Villainy shoe from Crooked Tongues in case you haven't seen it already…
“For the fourth in our 'Confederation Of Villainy' collaboration with New Balance we decided to take a wander away from the beaten path, kindly trodden down for us by previous collaborators and play with a performance favourite – the 991. Far from obscure, this model was deemed state-of-the-art on its costly debut in 1999 and still gets plenty of high-mileage athletic outings. Whereas shoes from '89 and earlier generally earn the Flimby-made cult following, the 991 is considered the staple New Balance shoe worldwide, with such luminaries as Apple's Steve Jobs (prior to the dawn of the Nike+) and Tenacious D's Kyle Gass seen in a pair.
All of which meant Crooked felt the need to play around with this sneaker as part of this pack. Using black and grey suede plus green leather for the bulk of the upper, there's a blinding dash of flouro workwear fabric dropped in the mix as seasoning. New Balance kindly allowed us to incorporate a custom sole on this model – the ABZORB midsole, the outsole now blends in with the clours of its attached upper, while the outsole incorporates a neon green, lifting it from its usual stern appearance. The 'UK' panel on the heel now reads '991', there's a spot of contrast stitching to up the visual ante. Factor in the custom tongue label and white metal eyelet and we're pretty certain that the risk of entering unknown territory was well worth it, making a hi-tech product look even more forward-thinking.
The BJ Betts illustrated box for this shoe pays homage to the mysterious highwayman, and one-time scourge of Bedfordshire, Black Tom with some beautifully executed packaging. And here's the important details in brief – 99 pairs. CT store only. December.”
Via CT