New Balance 1906l Red Croc

Designed by Charlotte Lee and part of New Balance's 1906L line. This release has a leather upper in Red/Black. The 1906 line comes out of the era when New Balance numbered its runners by ambition, and the 1906L is what happens when that platform is taken into leather instead of mesh. Red Croc is the loudest way to do it. A croc embossed finish and a saturated red pull the shoe out of the brand's grey comfort zone entirely, which is the joke and the appeal: New Balance spent a century being the sensible option, so a reptile textured red version reads as a deliberate provocation rather than a fashion default. It works because the underlying shape is not fashion at all. The 1906 silhouette is a running shoe drawn by a company that has sold fit and width since it was making arch supports in 1906.