Mortgage the House (Again): 40-Plus Years of the New Balance 1300JP

New Balance are reissuing the mythical 1300JP on May 29, maintaining the tradition of the revered runner’s five-year retro cycle. This marks the fourth time this particular makeup has been available outside of Japan, where it was originally a region-exclusive model. The days of prowling eBay and Yahoo Japan Auctions for early reissues are thankfully over… but picking these up won't be a walk in the park!

To mark the milestone 2020 launch, Up There sourced a string of 1300JP retros from the past 35 years and compared the pairs, including a rare pre-1995 sample. It was a neat follow-up to Sneaker Freaker's own 'compare and contrast' article published in 2015 for the previous launch, in which we held the JP2 up against earlier releases.

Insanity may be defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, but the 1300JP is an exercise in replicating a sneaker to near perfection. Some of the variations across retros are fractions of a millimetre different, or mere shades apart on the colour chart. But, hey – that’s what trainerspotting is all about.

Thanks to the Up There team for images. Cop NB’s wallet-busting and comfort king model on May 29 at the Melbourne-based boutique.