Fresh Look: New Balance US574M1 Custom “Puerto Rico”

“I Ordered them on the 6th, they were shipped on the 7th and than arrived to my doorstep on the 11th of April. How the fuck are they doing it?” Those were the exact words that were part of a conversation that I had with a friend. It was about these beautiful New Balance 574 Customs NB launched on the 4th of April, 2011. You already know I had to take a crack at it, especially when I saw the shape of the silhouette. So now that I had time, I took some detailed shots in Central Park, NYC for this Fresh Out the Box Review. Anyone with doubts, will have none after this read…

The Shoe:

The New Balance 574 is one of the more renowned models from NB’s catalog of sneakers. First finding it’s popularity in Europe and than spreading through out the world, you’d be hard pressed not the see this shoe on many casual walkers and workers. It was a shoe that was made from the same vein as the 576, except in a much lighter form, the 574. In the US, it’s popularity grew in the late 80’s. Footwear giant, Foot locker made a mark with the 574 by stocking a variety of tonal colors at an affordable price point of $59.99. Now, you can see this shoe pretty much everywhere, including fake renditions of the shoe. A simple and comfortable shoe that does just that.

Color-Way:

This color-way was designed and based on the Puerto Rican flag; I was born in Cayey, Puerto Rico. Though our flag does have the USA color scheme, we mostly push the Red color more so than the Blue. Taking that into consideration, I decided to make the Mesh the most prominent with Red. Blue was left minimal to the N logo, ankle wrap, and heel tab. White was applied to the ankle liner, logo base and mid-sole. Unfortunately, White is not available as a suede option so I opted for Grey instead. In the long run, I’m happier with the Grey because it makes the shoe pop out more by adding a nice contrast to the colors and the Grey suede will not get as dirty as the White anyway. To finish off the design, I added both Grey laces and tongue tag.

Materials/Workmanship:

Being a fan of brand offered custom shoes, I have come to accept an assortment of things and have concluded with expectations for others; Present or future, offer similar or do better. Some of the things fans always tend to look at most are Shape, Materials, Color options and Color-Blocking. Just like diamonds, I will call this Our 4 C’s in shoes. Without that, you may as well give a 2 year a box of crayola’s and a blank template to the shoe.

With that being said, I’m ecstatic to tell you that New Balance excels in almost every department of the 4C’s of shoes. When it comes to materials, the premium suede is buttery smooth and passes the sniff test for quality. The mesh is exactly what you want it to be. Great Ol’ NB 574 mesh and let us not forgot the customary NB laces. Traditional New Balance ingredients without the frills my friends. As far as the workmanship, I was a bit stunned on not only how fast they were getting these done, but how well the quality was. Not saying that its over the top, but for the time frame it’s pretty mind blowing if you ask me. BUT, of course you know there will be something I find wrong with these regardless of how good I feel about them. There was some glue stains near where the mid-sole meets the upper, but it was minimal. At least for this pair. The other pair I have had a bit more and a weird stain on the front part of the mid-sole. It was in Green which is what makes up most of that shoe. I haven’t tried to see if it comes off yet, but I hope it does. Stay tuned for that on my next post of those. You can also noticed in the worn image below, how the toe-box suede is being pinched. Something that got worse as I walked on it. I don’t think it will get any worse than whats’ already pictured though. The stitching is almost flawless on both my pairs and something I expect from NB whether it be the USA or UK branch. One other thing that is concerning is how the heel panel is cut. It didn’t have a clean cut like the the rest of the panels. At some points, it had a little excess suede that really shouldn’t be there. The last thing is that the tongue tag doesn’t have the ‘Made In USA’ logo on it, but the tongue did feel a little thicker than normal. A bit odd considering that they are MADE IN THE USA.

Color options are minimal on this first rendition of the NB 574 Custom. You get to play with nine of them to different parts of the model. Probably the only real thing lacking about the build overall. Hopefully we’ll see more options of hues in the future. That is, if NB decides to stay on the long haul with this.

Fit/Shape/Comfort:

The NB 574 model is known for it’s somewhat blocky look. Especially in the toe-box area. To my knowledge, I’ve never really seen a well shaped one at all. That is, until the New Balance 574 Clips were released in 2010. Those changed the way the 574 would look forever and little did we know that shape would make an appearance again. Just not as we may have anticipated. If you do a little comparison, you can see quite a resemblance. It really doesn’t get any better than that ( I’ll have a Size Up comparison in the future with the Clips and Custom to see what difference I can find as far as shape). I don’t even have to say anything on how well they fit because the shape says it all and of course, how very comfortable they were. They get praises on both marks.

Losing Points:

The one major flaw I find on this build is the color palette. With only nine colors available to you, I felt limited in my designs. New Balance may beg to differ because of the countless color schemes you can come up with, but I don’t want to create something simple and ordinary. Than again, this is their first foray into a mass production of custom shoes. The minimal glue stains seem to vary per pair and the heel panel will most likely retain that excess suede. One other thing I noticed is that the other pair I have had a slight raise on the side panel suede. The panel that is on the inside of the foot. It was slightly advanced and not fully glued on. A little upset about that. We’ll see if it gets any worse in the future and if any other pairs I get will have the same issue.

Wrap-Up:

All in all, I think New Balance is doing a fantastic job when all is taking into consideration. The premium materials, the godly shape, the price point and the amazing turnaround are all out of this world. Maybe if they spent a little more time on the shoe, we wouldn’t see some of the issues mentioned in Losing Points. I also hope the future brings in some more color-blocking options that we have seen in the 574. Also, some leathers would be nice to throw into the mix. Hell, I’ll take that canvas seen in the recent releases of the 574. Of course, only time will tell what New Balance will do with this Custom Builder, 574. Than again, where you gonna find a custom shoe delivered to you in 4 to 5 business days? No where buddy . Enjoy the images and catch five more photos that are only at my Flickr.

Options:

• 8 premium suede options
• 8 mesh options
• 9 lace options
• 10 logo and backtab options
• 2 midsole/outsole options
• Up to 8 embroidered characters
• $114.95

SCORE = 8.5

Quality – 8

Materials – 9

Craftsmanship – 8

Shape – 10

Colors – 6

Comfort -9

Condition Of Shoe As Of Photos – Dead Stock

Color-way – Red, Nearly Navy, Grey, an dWhite

Style Number – 574M1

Year – 2011

Size – 10 1/2

Made in USA

Box Price – $114.95

Materials

Premium Suede

Full Grain Leather

Colors

Red

Almost Navy

Grey

White

[Click Images To View Larger / *None of the captures are cropped]

Photography By Angel Gonzalez/Vagrant Sneaker© 2011. All rights Reserved.