If you’ve been craving 80’s basketball shoes and looking to fill some of the holes in your collection well 2020 is shaping up to help you do just that. New Balance is finally bringing back the 550, an elusive basketball shoe from 1989.
While some are drawing comparison’s to Louis Vuitton’s Avia/LA Gear tribute shoe
and the OG Avia 880 which released in 1988 the reality of it is that this shoe predates Louis Vuitton’s drop by nearly 30 years. Also, while the Avia 880 pre dates the New Balance 550 by a year as the 880 released in 1988, the 550 really draws inspiration from shoes like the New Balance P910
and the P740 which pre-dates AVIA by a year. With that said I wouldn’t sleep on this drop because shoes like this usually aren’t made in mass quantities and once their gone, you’ll probably be rocking geriatric shoes before you see them again.