New Balance Blog

As covered previously the new NB 1400 “Fanzine” collection by Super Team 33 officially drops today. The select 33 retailers include Shoe Biz (US), Sportie LA (US), Sold Out (France), Hanon Shop (UK), Limited Edt (Singapore).

NB M1400 Super Team 33 Fanzine Collection

NB M1400 Super Team 33 Fanzine Collection

The next quarterly release from New Balance’s Super Team 33 manufacturing group will be out July 20, 2007 for USD $200. The design comes from NB Europe who have chosen zines as their inspiration. Remember the time before weblogs? Fanzines are of course DIY print publications created by fans and for fans purely “for the love” of a particular music artist, fashion or other pop culture phenomenon. Made with scissors, tape, glue, staples, photocopiers, typewriters, desktop printers and other cheap and quick production methods, they have served a critical role in disseminating youth subculture.

M1400FZ1 – White

M1400FZ2 – Blue

M1400FZ3 – Red

“”Fanzines are created through the passion and care of an individual with a message and an audience,” says Robert Ward, EMEA lifestyle category manager at New Balance. “In a similar way this New Balance ST33 collection has been crafted with the same passion and care as the writers invested in their early fanzines. These shoes are all still individually handmade with a strong sense of craftsmanship and pride, just like an old stapled and photocopied fanzine.”

The Fanzine 1400’s feature a combination of premium full grain leathers and intricate printed materials. The rich, supple premium aniline leathers used on the shoes were selected to represent the high quality of the collection and the New Balance brand. The punch perforations in the vamp and midsole symbolize the heavily inked dots the period key on old typewriters would leave when typing onto fanzine paper. The shoe colors were chosen based on the most commonly used fanzine paper stock – fanzine writers typically use brightly colored paper stock as the type/text itself is always black, so red and blue paper is often used to give the fanzine a more colorful, high quality, eye-catching appearance. The “do it yourself” nature of fanzines is incorporated into the ST33 shoes through a variety of languages, illustrating the global nature of the collection and the fanzine concept.”
–New Balance

The ST33 production group in Skowhegan, Maine counts only 28 members and practices domestic vertical manufacturing. They create the shoes by hand, going from cutting to packing in a single day, and ship directly from the factory itself. The “33” indicates that the shoes are sold at only 33 select retailers worldwide.

The first ST33 release was the American-designed fish collection, followed by the Stingray collection designed by NB Japan. Next up is New Balance’s Asia/Pacific group whose ST33 release will be out in Q4 2007.

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