Everyone Loves New Balance's 550, Even COMME des GARÇONS
This article was published on June 27, 2022 and updated on October 26, 2022
COMME des GARÇONS is one of fashion's most collab-happy companies, especially when it comes to footwear. Sneaker team-ups with Salomon, Nike, Vans, ASICS — basically every shoe company is on CdG's resume.
So when we saw several leaked images suggesting the existence of two forthcoming COMME des GARÇONS HOMME x New Balance 550 collab colorways, our eyebrows are not raised.
Obviously, neither company confirmed the shoe's existence or even officially announced the collaboration in the days or weeks leading up to the drop, meaning that when the NB 550s launched on Dover Street Market's site and stores on October 26 for $265 apiece, there was little fanfare.
But there were photos of the very tame collaboration floating around social media in the months leading up, as per usual.
CdG HOMME's New Balance 550s were first seen during Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2022, when every brand that's any brand takes to the French capitol for showrooms aplenty.
COMME des GARÇONS overseer Junya Watanabe was back in Paris this year, for instance, and so was COMME des GARÇONS HOMME PLUS, the mainline menswear collection designed by house founder Rei Kawakubo.
Early imagery suggested that a COMME des GARÇONS HOMME PLUS x Nike Terminator is also in the works, which is fine and dandy, but shots of the COMME des GARÇONS HOMME x New Balance 550 were even rarer.
And, in case it wasn't clear, the workwear-indebted HOMME label is totally separate from the far more adventurous HOMME PLUS. Expect sneakerheads to tag CdG HOMME on Instagram as streetwear sublabel CDG.
Note that Watanabe only presumably captains HOMME — CdG is notoriously insular about who exactly does what, barely acknowledging Keiichi Tanaka even though he helmed HOMME for a good long while.
Still, COMME des GARÇONS HOMME and HOMME DEUX remain stylistically similar to Watanabe's own output and Junya Watanabe MAN is doing New Balance collabs for Spring/Summer 2023, so the connection seems teneble?
Watanabe himself dished a New Balance 480 collab some time back, which is basically the 550's more obscure older brother, and HOMME issued a New Balance 57/40 in 2021, further making that connection more likely.
Either way, we can be certain of one thing.
With Aimé Leon Dore, Joe Freshgoods, Size?, and New Balance itself still dropping instant-sell-out 550 colorways, it's impossible to imagine the 550 hype dying down, even when the options are as subdued as this CdG HOMME pair and other New Balance silhouettes vie for attention.
