Pensole Students Designed this New Balance 327 Colab

Graduating from the Pensole Academy is one of the most highly sought after pathways for budding sneaker designers to break into the industry. Founded in 2010 by D’Wayne Edwards, the footwear design program has since expanded to top schools, universities, and art centres around America. Coinciding with Pensole’s latest round of ‘Fueling the Future of Footwear Master Class’ in partnership with Foot Locker, students were able to gain valuable tutelage at New Balance’s Massachusetts HQ. And one of the outcomes of this lesson is a new colourway of the popular 327 that will release this week.

The NB327 may appear like a relatively simple sneaker, but the Pensole crew clearly prove there’s a lot to work with. These multicoloured mashers use a classic combo of navy nylon on the underlays, and tactile aqua suede on the upper panels. But there’s a lot more going on, with hot red inserted at the lateral ankle panel, and small pops of teal and yellow colouring in the negative space surrounding the oversized lateral N logo. It’s pretty interesting too, as two of its edges are highlighted with squiggly embroidery, perhaps alluding to the innumerable scribbles made during the shoe design process. It may be mostly bare on the medial side, but look closer: there’s rainbow thread used in those vertical stitches.

This colab is marked with Foot Locker and Pensole branding on the insoles and, as such, expect these to be available from FL on December 4.