Dad shoes just got even cooler. New Balance — the brand that made fatherly footwear fashionable — is teaming up with Loro Piana on a sneaker for the richest grandpa you know.
After weeks of speculation surrounding a collaboration between the two brands, Loro Piana’s chief marketing officer Chris Davis confirmed the news: Loro Piana — the face of the “quiet luxury” movement — is bringing its famously sumptuous materials to New Balance’s 990v6.
Instead of your usual mesh and leather upper, these ultra-premium New Balances are made with Loro Piana’s signature Pecora Nera wool, which the Italian brand sources from a partner farm in New Zealand.
Succession-level wealth is a pre-requisite for this release — launching at Loro Piana boutiques on September 5, the sneakers price at $1,500.
New Balance has ventured deeper into the luxury space as of late. Last summer, we saw Stone Island lend its experimental fabrics to a collaborative New Balance 991v2.
In March, Miu Miu’s leather New Balance 530s hit the runway, cementing our taste for flat-soled shoes. And we can’t forget Junya Watanabe’s New Balance M1906 sneaker-loafers.
As Fashion Month approaches, we’re expecting to see more high-fashion New Balance collabs debut on the catwalk.
As for Loro Piana, the label is well-versed in the art of the dad shoe. For years, the brand has been producing some of the highest-end grandpa steppers money can buy (sans any branding, of course).
In short, a Loro Piana x New Balance collab makes perfect sense.
That said, we’ll offer the following disclaimer: You probably won’t want to run a 5K in these.