Winter is over! And while this won’t always mean wonderful weather, spring is turning greener and flowers of all different colors are bursting forth. Shoemakers and apparel companies are also getting into the spirit of the running season with new iridescent offerings. Join The Manual as we explore the best happily-hued kicks to get you running into springtime.
New Balance 574 LDG Ma Divina
New Balance and Louis De Guzman, a Chicago-based, Filipino-American visual artist, are at it once again. This time the team collaborated to create the gender-neutral New Balance 574 LDG Ma Divina, dedicated to De Guzman’s mother and her love of flowers. For the artist’s second release with New Balance, de Guzman drew inspiration from multi-hued childhood memories, accompanying his mother to Chicagoland craft shows where she would arrange and sell floral bouquets. De Guzman would spend hours depicting his mother’s creations in crayon and colored pencil.
Now, as a grown man, De Guzman still draws inspiration from those bouquets, especially in this pastel palette on the classic new Balance silhouette.
Now available for $90 at Foot Locker, Champs Sports, and other participating retailers.
Comme des Garçons PLAY x Converse Chuck 70
Releasing in both high and low-top options, the Comme des Garçons PLAY x Converse Chuck 70 features a bright red midsole and foxing setup, accented by contrasting black or white pinstripes and contrasting rear panel strips. Setting these Chucks off are black and white eyes that peek from inside red hearts that rise up from while soles. As is typical of the collaboration, canvas uppers are stamped with the shoe’s co-brands.
Air Jordan 1 Mid “Tie Dye”
Apropos to this pastel time of year, Jordan Brand‘s spring 2022 releases will include a “Tie-Dye” colorway of the vaunted Air Jordan 1 Mid.
Built up from the shoe’s acclaimed, color-blocked “Black Toe” design, which features white leather uppers accented by black overlays. Rear panels up the Jordan shoe’s game with a variety of tie-dyed tones marking textile panels. These are set (set off) by the basic contrast of white midsoles paired with black rubber outsoles.
Priced at $125 USD, the Air Jordan 1 Mid “Tie Dye” is expected to release on May 5.
South Park x Adidas Originals
From Guardians of the Galaxy to Yeezy, Adidas loves to collaborate with trending pop culture figures, even if they’re animated, apparently.
The apparel giant’s newest partnership has it traveling to a small, Colorado mountain for inspiration. For the South Park x Adidas project, designers dreamed up six new footwear colorways, to honor various show characters — real and fictional. There’s a pair of Forum Lows inspired by Cartman, one in a glossy red with blue and yellow details that matches the color of his main outfit and another with a glossy tan that embodies the cardboard A.W.E.S.O.M.-O 4000 robot costume, complete red, blue, and yellow upper toe trimming.
NMD_R1 and NMD_R1 V2 shoes also make an appearance, each in flashy colors -- one the same snappy orange of Kenny’s, and the other, an aluminum foil-sparked aqua shoe that honors Butters’ supervillain alter ego, Professor Chaos. A special Superstar matches Kyle Broflovski’s green and orange style, and a Stan Smith model comes in Stan Marsh’s blue (and complete with red sole trim for his red winter hat poof ball).
The Adidas x South Park collection is available exclusively through Foot Locker with prices starting at $100.
Allbirds Tree Runners
Since its 2016 launch, New Zealand’s Allbirds set out to differentiate the firm from massive competitors within three founding principles: simple design, comfortable wear, and sustainable construction. All Allbirds performance apparel and shoes are designed with cutting carbon emissions and water usage in mind.
It's this commitment that led the brand to introduce an even more environmentally set of shoes in 2018. With fabric engineered using eucalyptus pulp and soles sourced from sugar cane, Tree Runners quickly became some of the hottest sneakers on the market — even Obama was spotted wearing the minimalist kicks.
Available in orange, burgundy, blue, even lilac, you can now get in line with a blossoming time with Allbirds Tree Runners that are now only $105 at the sustainable shoe company’s home page.
Cole Haan ZERØGRAND II
Any shoe featuring a dandelion-based outsole deserves mention in a spring shoe drop.
Coinciding with the introduction of Cole Haan’s Change Forward sustainable innovation initiative, the ZERØGRAND II everyday shoe features FlowerFoam made from a minimum of 25% natural dandelion rubber. Fabricated parts also includes vegan microfiber suede made with 21% recycled content and reconstituted felt fabric made with 85% recycled plastic bottles (rPET). ZERØGRAND II laces are made from 100% rPET and an Ortholite hybrid footbed is made with 5% recycled rubber, 15% production waste foam and a fabric topsheet made from 100% rPET.
The dress shoe features traditional colors that pop with just a twist of color-blocked funk -- blue with a brown heel and gray- and white-stacked soles, white set off with a gray heel and yellow outsoles, and more. As with all Cole Haan products, the Generation ZERØGRAND II Oxford align to Cole Haan’s four primary shoe benefitis: natural motion, responsive cushioning, energy return, and breathability.
Also available in black and gray, these are now on sale for $210 retail.
UGG Tasman
From athletic-wear to the office, we arrive at the relaxing part of the day. Whether that be the morning, a post-surf coffee run, or arriving for a pregame, the UGG Tasman LTA has got your fashionable, chromatic spring fit.
The ‘LTA’ stands for “lighter-than-air," a nod to the lightweight puff uppers now appearing in a breathable, versatile recycled material on the UGG Tasman silhouette. Already sported by NBA players like John Wall and Anthony Davis, a suede upper provides a soft exterior and a premium look. Whether you’re sporting orange, red, or brown, the Tasman braid on slipper collars catches the eye while UGGpure wool wicks moisture to keep your feet dry on the outside. The Southern California company also built these to last with a durable, Treadlite outsole.
As the days get brighter and the weather gets lighter, make sure to participate in the fairer times with vivid and comfy shoe offerings.
