I know this isn't the first, nor is it the offensive, but this whole notion of 'pre-distressed' rides a really fine line 🤣
That stuff that @balenciaga did earlier...with those trashed whatever-the-funks...and the @goldengoose pre-trashed things...meh...whatever. They're not really part of (what I consider to be) 'the culture'. They're in a different realm altogether.
But @newbalance is different. I know they're not Nike and they're not Adidas, but they have put out a steady stream of culturally-relevant sneakers for the past 10-15 years...thanks (in small part) to brand 'catalysts' like @cncpts , @bodega , and @ronniefieg amongst others...
When nike does the pre-distressed things, I kinda like them. They're lowkey, they're in the details. But this...I dunno. This is a bit much IMO. The other 'refined future' pack shoes had distressed details that were MUCH more subtle...and a few of those sat.
When these dropped, they were scooped with a quickness. But since then, I haven't seen (or heard) a word about them since. Y'all think people realized they were too distressed AFTER they bought 'em? 🤣