Last week, I gave you all a heads-up about a deal on the New Balance 993. I think of the 993 as sort of the Alden Longwing of the casual-shoe world; its upper-middle-class credentials are impeccable and it tends to be the choice of people whose fathers owned a dinner jacket.
I almost made it out of the New Balance (virtual) store without buying anything extra, but at the last minute I relented and bought a set of 2040v2 sneakers. They’re also made in the USA, but they’re unapologetically luxurious. One could argue that they serve as the GMC Yukon XL to the 993’s Suburban LTZ, which is to say that they drive the “these-cost-a-lot” point home a bit more emphatically than would be necessary.
Part of this shoe’s upscale marketing is sourcing. The 2040v2, and its successor shoe, the 2040v3, use leather from a source that used to be completely obscure but which is now experiencing a renaissance of the reputation, as it were.
In the pre-Internet era, I don’t think too many people knew much about the Horween Leather Company in Chicago. Although it was the sole source of shell cordovan leather in the United States, supplying both Alden and Allen-Edmonds with the “color 8” horsehide they used for their highest-end shoes, surely nobody was at pains to advertise this fact. Particularly not the fine folks at Alden, who no doubt find it galling that they have to source their shell from the uncouth Midwest. From time to time, you’ll find some fellow on a clothing forum claiming that Alden gets “a higher grade” of leather than Allen-Edmonds does. I give that claim all the respect I gave to the assertion, made by a fellow bagboy at Big Bear Grocery Store in 1989, that General Motors gave all the S-10 pickups a “secret quality test” and put S-15 badges on the ones that scored highest.
And that’s the second GMC reference I’ve made in this post. Easily one too many.
Maybe Horween was never a “secret” as such, but if it was the horse is well and truly out of the barn now. Horween products are openly sourced by everybody from Hodinkee, for watch straps, to New Balance, for their most expensive sneakers. There’s even a in-house site for certain finished goods.
Danner, Frye, Rancourt, and many, many others use the name as a selling point. This is fascinating in and of itself because it shows us a way in which prestige-by-association works. Nobody ever thought that Alden shoes were good because they used Horween leather; it’s assumed that Alden sources the very best leather possible and that being affiliated with Alden is a guarantee of quality. So when you buy a pair of Danners or Fryes or Wolverines that are made with Horween Leather, what you’re really doing is hoping to get that same Alden quality in a more affordable, comfortable, or accessible fashion.
Of course, the inevitable result of this Horween-mania is that eventually someone will make an absolutely worthless shoe out of the finest Horween #8 Shell or Chromexcel. Another inevitable result: I finally have a set of sneakers too nice to wear in any situation requiring a sneaker. Too bad I’m not going to the Trump rally in Columbus tomorrow; I hear that Trump’s appeal is exclusively to white racists, and I’m also told that New Balances are a white-person thang!
Jack, you and I have an unexpected (but probably not coincidental) cross-section of interests.
These Horween CXL #8 high tops are my latest footwear preoccupation, but I haven’t been quite able to pull the trigger on backing them: https://www.weargustin.com/store/2964
Enjoy those Newbies.
Making a horrible shoe out of high quality Horween Shell? So it’d be like, the genesis G90 of shoes?
I can’t say I’m holding out much hope for the Genesis G90…
I’m an independent (really), but find it HILARIOUS AND SAD watching FAUX NEWS (the Rove/Murdoch/Kristol Establishment network) try to savage Trump & prop up Rubio using desperate, sloppy last-minute hit pieces yesterday and today.
I like your writing. But Paul Fussell you aint.
Your constant need to acquire (shoes, guitars, cars, sneakers!) in far excess of any reasonable need tendency to tell the world about it is hardly associated with fathers “who owned a dinner jacket” Instead, It’s bourgeois to the max.
Jack’s a great writer, but his accumulation of much useless to marginally useful “stuff” speaks to a poor philosophy of living - IMO*.
*Standard disclaimer I now use when espousing anything remotely approximating an opinion or value judgment.
The American Mindset suffers from a disease of over-accumulation of useless to marginally useful “stuff” that runs counter to a more logical and efficient lifestyle that centers around trading labor/time (used to accumulate wages) to trade for only those things that are truly useful and will be used more than a few times.
Note that such a philosophy of living doesn’t exclude purchasing things such as expensive art, exotic cars or other things requiring many wages, as long as the thing acquired will really be used often, relates to a true passion, or otherwise won’t be shelved to gather dust somewhere and be forgotten and essentially shelved in short order.
I’m not trying to assert a moral judgment Honolulu, Jack.
Rather, I’m offering up an alternative paradigm of living (quality over quantity minimalism that focuses on acquiring only truly, inherently valuable things that improve one’s life or relate to one’s true passions) that I BELIEVE IS MORE LIKELY TO LEAD TO A HAPPY LIFE.
Trust me, I’ve done the minimalism thing to death 🙂
And I’ll have plenty of time to enjoy it again, given the likely state of the economy and my personal finances in twenty years.
Fair enough. Keep in mind that this is my blog and therefore it’s going to be chock-full of things that are not of universal interest and/or relevance. Some people blog about what they eat every day. And it’s probably also true that if I blogged about made-in-the-USA items but didn’t admit to buying any I’d be called a hypocrite. You really can’t win.
Buying gaudy Cole Haans from DSW is bourgeois. Spending your money on a product and manufacturing base you believe in and passionately support is genuine, even if others don’t agree with the numbers.
Constantly buying stuff that isnt really needed is bourgeois.
I share fair bit of Jack’s taste, but he buys an amazing amount of stuff. I have 3 pairs of Allen Edmonds for instance. One brown (Wibert) one black (tassle loafer from 90s) and one tan penny loafer. I wear them each about 2x per week. Not sure what I’d do with more. Dont wear a suit anymore.
On a side note, the New Balance Horween Leather Sneakers are kinda goofy. Where are you going to wear them that the regular New Balance 993s wouldnt work just as well? Probably going to get worn 5x a year.
Of course they’re goofy. That’s the point of them.
I’m a collector. Driving a Honda Accord instead of an Audi S5 and/or two Phaetons frees up some money for me to buy trivial stuff and share it with the readers. When I was a kid I collected “rare” variants of PaperMate pens. I’m kind of a hoarder. You should see my house. I freely admit that it is neither class-appropriate nor particularly sane.
Hedonism is thyne name.
It doesn’t look like NB makes any training shoes in the US. That’s too bad, as I am in the market and will buy the USA made items whenever I can.
MT626 are US-made.
If I was a hipster Sociology major, I might research the deep connection between middle aged overweight non-athletes and New Balance sneakers.
I’m ready to earn money as part of your study. I turned in my BMX pro license eleven years ago next month.
If that’s the case, I’d advise you to let your beard go gray, order an XXXXL spandex cycling costume, and purchase a recumbent bicycle with a gigantic flag pole attached to it as soon as possible.
Remember, it is important to age gracefully.
You’d prefer to rage against the dying of the light in a bar, maybe? Perhaps volunteer your way to the post of Deacon at the nearest parsonage? Those are certainly original and decorous. For my part, I’ll be out in the slow group of the 5k pack running for no good reason at all.
Nicely written sir. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.
Never really looked at NB since it was what they issued us in basic. Whatever model we got was crap but I might have to give them another look after seeing some of the current models from the USA made collection.