New Balance 574 – Dragon Pack

2012 marks the Chinese Zodiac year of the dragon, and New Balance will release a pack containing the 574 model based on the special occasion. An artist’s rendition of a dragon is found across the entire upper of the shoe. They even went a step further by removing the iconic “N” logo on the inner side of the shoe to enhance the artwork. The New Balance Dragon Pack will be an exclusive Asia-only release, and there are three standard colors available to the public: black, red, and yellow. There will also be a limited edition gold colorway featuring 3m reflective material on the upper.

To commemorate the release of this pack, there were also collaborations with five influential Asian stores/brands. Each brand was to come up with a unique pair of shoes to represent one of the five hero dragons based on the earth, fire, metal, water, and wood elements. Japan’s Mita Sneakers did their take on the 574 based on the wood dragon, applying wood-like accents on the uppers. Japanese label Whiz put their spin on the shoe based on the fire dragon by incorporating dragon scales on the uppers. China’s NPC used shiny silver leather with snakeskin accents on the uppers of their 574 to represent the metal dragon. Taiwan’s Invincible placed digital camo and snakeskin accents on the uppers of their shoe, representing the earth dragon. Lastly, Singapore’s Limited Edt. went ala Espo with their version, using see-thru uppers and hits of 3m reflective materials to represent the water dragon.

Look for the Dragon Pack to release exclusively in Asia at the end of the month at New Balance retailers. The collaboration pack will not be available to the public, but each shoe will be on display at their respective collab’s location. Peep the images below to view the special collabs.

Via Streething