New Balance is releasing a collection of three pairs of 998’s under the theme of international luggage through the Super Team 33 division. Each pair takes design cues from iconic traditions among Italian or Swiss luggage makers, and even goes all the way back to reference steamer trunks. Utilizing the incredibly comfortable 998 as the base model for each shoe, your feet will be thanking you on this one.

The first pair pictured above takes inspiration from the crocodile skin often used on fine Italian bags. Much like the bags, subtlety is not the strong suit here. The tannish panels that appear to be made of suede look nice, but I think scaling back (scaling! ha!) on the croc skin, either in size or in placement, would have gone a long way towards making this a more wearable shoe.

My favorite of the bunch, this maroon and purple pair reference steamer trunks used by the upper class on long voyages across oceans. Many high end luggage makers can trace their roots back to the steamer trunk. But honestly, who cares about that? Once again, the necessity to create a theme distracts from the solid design work here. Let a shoe live! The color palette is tasteful, and from the pictures, the leather looks top notch. Add to that the fact that all Super Team 33 shoes are made here in the States with a serious eye for detail and quality, and you’ve got a winner right here.

Finally, the black canvas and patent leather model is a shout out to the Swiss and their penchant for incorporating those materials on their travel bags. Let’s be real here though, going by looks alone, most people are going to notice little difference between these and the 2 for 89 or whatever deal is running on your average New Balance in the mall. Sure the quality is there and you can sleep well knowing their limited production, but I feel like this is a throwaway design. Abandon the pack mentality and just make three good looking sneakers. Conceptuality is only as great as the concept itself. That’s just me though, so if you’re inclined to disagree, check out one of the 33 stores below, as they will be the only shops to receive this, or any, set of Super Team 33 releases.

US/CANADA

• Alife (NYC)
• Shoe Gallery (South Beach)
• The 400 (Denver)
• Sportie LA (LA)
• P.E.G (Dallas)
• Tannery (Boston)
• Shoe Biz (San Francisco)
• Capital 1524 (Seattle)
• The Vault (Toronto)
• La Godasse (Montreal)
• El Kartel (Vancouver)

EUROPE

• Hanon
• Size Carnaby St
• Offspring Neal St (UK)
• Solebox
• Tate (Germany)
• Sneakers’n’Stuff (Sweden)
• Wallace (Denmark)
• Vintage 55
• Gente
• ANO TBC (Italy)
• Trust Nobody (Spain)
• Lijfstijl (Holland)

JAPAN

• Mita
• Atmos
• United Arrows
• Oshmans
• Urban Research
• Darjeeling Days

ASIA PACIFIC

• D-Mop (Hong Kong)
• Limited Edition Vault (Singapore)
• S.H Owin (Taipei)

LATIN AMERICA

• Zoo (Chile)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Shoes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.