Miu Miu is asking a lot for their latest collaborative output
When is a New Balance unattainable, price-wise? When they are sneakers conceived in partnership with Miu Miu. Their latest—and reportedly the last output of the collaboration—is a pair of New Balance 574, given a treatment that would inevitably be described as luxurious and adequately blinked. And what is Miu Miu asking for a pair? A mind-boggling S$2,550. The pricing is not only prohibitive, it is also ironic, considering that when the 574 was birthed in 1988, it was supposed to be an affordable—some fans prefer "accessible"—running shoe. In Miu Miu's tweaks of the classic silhouette, surface treatment dominate. For slightly more than the price of a Prada Re-Edition 1978 Re-Nylon mini-bag, you get New Balance's runner with suede and denim upper, and sparkly synthetic crystal heat-sealed onto the mudguard, heel counter, and N-logo.
This pair of sneakers dispels the (still) mistaken notion that Miu Miu is Prada's cheaper line. Even Prada's own 'classic' Downtown full-leather kicks are priced cheaper—at S$1,740 a pair. One of the purposes of collaborating with sports brands is (at least in the old days) to bring the footwear to a more accessible price to those who are not used to the stratospheric amounts brands charge under their own brand. Sure, many luxury labels are "strongly-priced", but when a name is jointly branded with another not known to charge crazy amounts for their wares, can anyone be made to feel good embracing the exorbitant expense on kicks that would surely lose their appeal very quickly? We know New Balance is really popular now (just see the many folks in the streets who are enamoured with the S$159 runner, the 530), but would the Miu Miu X New Balance 574, priced 17 times higher than the regular NB kicks of the same model be really more appealing?
Photo: Miu Miu/New Balance
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