Matt Varga If you’ve caught any of New Balance’s terrestrial ad spots, you’ll know that sports is still the beating heart of the Boston brand; Coco Gauff, Kawhi Leonard, Cooper Flagg, Shohei Ohtani. Quiet as kept, their roster of musical endorsees may be just as impressive, utilizing Rosalia’s talents to promote the New Balance 204L, Amine to help get the New Balance 2000 journey started, and affording Action Bronson a deep collaborative canon that continues to this day. With his Rose Runner 1906R, Jack Harlow was positioned to enter the same air as those company A-listers, and perhaps that’s back on the menu with the New Balance T500 “Olmsted.”
Much was made of the Kentucky native’s recent genre pivot on his Monica record. We’ll leave our critical opinions on the matter for another day, but clearly that turn toward refined and luxurious aesthetics bridges into his footwear roster with this pair. The T500, a converted tennis shoe that’s been positioned by New Balance as a simplistic lifestyle icon, already leans in that direction, but Jack Harlow turns the dial up with textured brown leather.
The initial teaser spot for this shoe finds Harlow waltzing through Central Park in New York City. Frederick Law Olmsted led the design for the beloved Manhattan project, but there’s also ties to Kentucky in his resume, as he additionally put his mind to the park system layout utilized in Harlow’s native Louisville**.**
No details regarding the wide launch of the Jack Harlow x New Balance T500 have come about yet. However, the rapper has already teased a launch party at Hogan’s Fountain in Cherokee Park in Louisville. That event takes place on August 28th from 3 to 7 PM.
