The Weird Truth about New Balance 550

New Balance 550 Review - People have been obsessed with the New Balance 550 sneakers after the re-release of the 1989 design by Aime Leon Dore. I bought a pair to cut in half and to see how its built and if the leather quality is up to the standard that new balance has set for their other sneakers.

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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
0:36 NordVPN
1:53 550 History
2:45 Why?
3:15 Leather
5:25 Breathability
5:52 Construction
8:44 Cut In Half
9:51 What’s Inside?
11:01 Are They Worth It?

#newbalance #newbalance550 #newbalance650

[laflame]

Actually there is a reason for the cut out in the cupsole, it allows the cushion to expand which is important in performance basketball shoes for impact protection, not having a cut like that is part of what has made the Jordan 1 unwearble for play compared to other releases from the 80s

[mayonnnnnaise]

I've been a shoe salesman for the past 17 years, at chain establishments. Your videos are both a fantastic product knowledge resource (things like docs vs tims, or the white mountains vs birks) and just really satisfying from a morbid, shoe destruction standpoint. loved the monarch video.

[jluis_soto]

The sneaker community is in debt to you! Really appreciate your service to society by chopping sneakers in half! ❤

[CrispyFrenFry]

The loss of shoe patterns is a damn good argument for companies to create corporate archives so those types of records are identified, preserved, and made accessible to company researchers. Archives and their archivists present capital value but oft goes unnoticed.

[kenweeks]

I used to manage an athletic shoe store near Lawrence, Mass. where New Balance had a factory. Every once in a while some NB guys would come into my store and buy 5-6 competitors' shoes to do exactly what you are doing here - cutting them up to see how they are made. Nice to finally see what they were doing back then.

[MattJH]

The white/green general release 550s have been my daily beaters since last summer and they're holding up amazingly well. There's barely any outsole wear at all. I treat them terribly. I laced them on the first day and ever since then I just shove my feet in like an animal. Confirmed tanks.

[grveshft]

Now that you've done the Nike Dunks, the New Balance 550's, I would personally love to watch a video on the Adidas Forum 84 low! Since these are sort of competitors. I would love to see the quality of the Forum 84s and see how it stands against the other two.

[louisvo]

Love how you talked about the history and gave credit to Teddy for bring this shoe back from the dead

[visualthought]

props on having timestamps and mentioned videos in description.. your hard work doesn't go unnoticed,

[KevinRamos-zpoh]

Love the take on the leather quality! Though the special project/collab pairs are distinctly different in hand feel. The ALD, Rich Paul, Auralee, etc. 550’s have a noticeably thicker leather and they don’t have that plastic finish these GR joints have. Hoping to see your take on those in comparison!

[swakemudi]

I have one pair of this shoes, . first month of wearing it, it's like standing on top of a stone. now I know, it's because the fiberboard. but after wearing it like 2-3 months, it's starting to feel like comfy, very very comfy. thanks, Rose! I love this video. keep it up

[soldier]

I have little interest in sneaker culture but YOU make it interesting and I love every second of your content. I love your boot teardowns since I do work in heavy industry and love knowing what's in who's boot, shoe, sneaker and so on. Keep up the awesome content. "Redback gang"

[fclp]

Me when boots have a fiberboard insole: wow what a rip off trash

Me when sneakers have fiberboard insole: wow such great quality

[JamesPawson]

I am so glad I found this channel (2 years ago!)-- I came for the boots and leather talk, now he covers so much more. So amazingly informative.

[Nanijoe]

Great video. Crazy how even though the leather is bad, the overall construction of the sneaker is pretty top-tier. As others mentioned, would love to see you deconstruct an ALD 550. It's a collab and apparently is made with better materials, so would be cool to see if that is true or not

[firedemon]

Theoretically you can resole most sneakers, most people just don’t do it because it’s harder to get the sole you need unless you buy fake soles for that shoe, which probably isn’t a bad idea just for a sole, probably some other small reasons too

[DayKilla]

For some reason, I really enjoy when you scrap the plastic from the shoe during the flame test. Would be awesome if you did it for the whole shoe.

[HolloVVpoint]

The 550 is the same silhouette as the OG Adidas Forum low, continental 80 and the Reebok Workouts.

The all black reebok workouts were one of the most popular shoes here in the UK in 90s especially amongst school kids as we could stealth rock them instead of shoes (which are part of a mandatory school uniform in most schools). Weird how they get no love now at all especially considering how that retro silhouette is all the rage now.

[TICKSnKICKS]

There is always something good with New Balances. Comfort or durability. I love mid-range New Balances for their decent looks.

[ivanzamojilny]

Very similar to the Rivalry Row from Adidas: three quarters sole stitching, foam, stiffness, and they are both 80s bball shoes with less technology than their competitors.
Great video! Really appreciated the history of the model.
I've heard some people say that the Aimee Dore collab has a better leather quality, but I don't know