Concepts and New Balance are ensuring sneakerheads end the year with a quality, luxurious collab on their feet with the release of the 998 Grand Tourer, which arrives the day after Christmas.
The shoe will be available at the retailer’s Boston and New York City locations as well as via its online store. Customers picking up the shoe in NYC will have a special experience after buying the shoes, as Concepts has teamed up with Classic Cars Club for a post-purchase popup shop where people can the classic cars that inspired the shoe. For customers on the West Coast, the retailer partnered with Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Period Correct for a popup shop that features vintage cars.
The retail price of the shoe is $215. The Grand Tourer will be Concepts’ final collaboration of the year, which is also the kick-off shoe that begins the retailer’s 20th anniversary celebration, having opened its Cambridge, Mass. location in 1996.
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The shoe, inspired by the rich culture of prestigious auto races, captured the spirit of a grand tourer, a functional yet stylish performance and luxury automobile built for high speeds and long distances. For the shoe, Concepts and New Balance used full premium pig suede for its upper with perforated suede details on the vamp and leather New Balance branding with a reflective underlay. The colorway of the shoe features grey, off-white, sea green and red tones, which are seen on European road maps, race stickers and flags, and premium car interiors. The shoe also features a Concepts-branded footbed.
The 998 Grand Tourer was made in New Balance’s Skowhegan, Maine manufacturing facility and uses of domestic materials, paying homage to the brand’s history of domestic manufacturing.
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