So far, Aimé Leon Dore has been putting their spin on New Balance’s archive of runners. For their latest drop, ALD ventures into New Balance’s long-forgotten basketball heritage to pull out the P550 Basketball Oxfords. Their latest creation, the Aimé Leon Dore x New Balance P550, drops on October 16.
The ALD P550 gets the vintage treatment. Its midsole comes in a pre-aged cream color while the upper is constructed out of white leather, just like the original ’89 release. Red accents can be found in the outsole, “N” logos, ankle collar, midfoot lining and tongue. ALD’s apple emblem appears on the insole, heel cap and tongue tag.
ALD’s founder, Teddy Santis, first unveiled the sneaker on September 29 through an Instagram post. The new P550 is an accurate recreation of the original sneaker that drop back in 1989. Largely unknown, the sneaker has not received a collaboration or retro since it first dropped in the ’80s.
According to Santis’s caption, the sneaker has been years in the making. “Everything about the 550’s and what they represented felt like this would be the perfect romance to activate SONNY and the ALD grassroots basketball program,” he wrote.
Campaign imagery of the Aimé Leon Dore x New Balance P550 show three other colorways—black, grey and green. At the moment, those colorways have yet to receive a wider release since they first dropped on October 9. However, the red colorway will drop again on October 16 for sure.
Where to buy:
End Launches (Red) | Dover Street Market Singapore (Red)
All images: End Launches