Since its founding in 1999, Sneakersnstuff (SNS) has become a leader in global sneaker culture — but it may not have reached that status without New Balance, which played a pivotal role in building the Stockholm company’s reputation. The duo’s first collaboration, which only took 10 minutes to create, according to SNS, helped the retailer make a name for itself, a milestone SNS is celebrating with another New Balance collaboration.
The new designs come nearly two decades after SNS’s initial partnership, a New Balance 577 two-pack that sold out even faster than its rapid design time. The inaugural collaboration — pitched during a fleeting meeting at New Balance’s famed Flimby, U.K. factory — featured a sneaker designed by each SNS co-founder, with Peter Jansson opting for a gray and black version of the model and Erik Fagerlind crafting a blue and yellow sneaker inspired by the Swedish and Canary Islands flags. Ninety-six pairs of each color scheme were made, although Erik’s 577 was altered during production, making its blue color more mint — a fault now corrected through SNS’s next collaboration.
