New Balance has put its reputation in the hands of an interesting brand for its latest collaboration. The brand of choice: Songmont – a Chinese luxury handbag maker.
At the heart of the collaboration is the New Balance 471 retro runner, now reimagined in Songmont’s vision, leather-clad and looking extra sleek. What’s being hailed as an east-meets-west collaboration takes inspiration from Chinese culture with handwoven traditional knots that symbolise stability and inner strength and tiger-tooth motifs. Songmont has also matched the shoes with a handbag in the same earthy, vegetable-tanned leather.
The collaboration’s launch was announced with photographs of the shoes on the feet of a ballet dancer, emphasising the design goes beyond style and sticks to New Balance’s practical roots.
Songmont’s star is very much on the rise. Since its founding in 2013 the brand has become well-respected in the Chinese luxury market with flagship locations in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu. In spite of having not yet taken their stores global, they have attracted global attention. Most notably when the CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, chose Songmont as one of the luxury brands to check out on his recent China tour – the attention of a man like this is tantamount to a blessing from on high in the fashion world.
China has a host of sports personalities and brands that would have made suitable collaborators for New Balance, so why choose Songmont? For New Balance, who already have the sports market pretty well covered, this partnership is a chance to step – excuse the pun – into a new market. By doing so they aim to sweep up business that was previously out of their reach. The fact they picked China as the place to do this says a lot about the Chinese luxury market. With attention from notable brands and figures in western fashion, it looks like Songmont’s isn’t the only star on the rise.
