Very informative stuff. Took me to another world. Makes me want to keep an eye open for the new Goat Skinned 574's. Thanks.

Hope to see these.

Hope to snag a pair too!

WOW LOVE IT, WOULD LOVE TO OWN A PAIR OF THESE SHOES, BUT I ALSO LEARNED A NEW WAY OF LIFE IN A NEW COUNTRY, THANKS FOR SHARING

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Any chance New Balance will develop lifestyle shoes made from non-leather or all synthetic materials? As a vegetarian, I've long used lightweight NB running shoes. I like the style of many of the lifestyle shoes, but I don't want to buy shoes made from animal products.

Are there any NB shoes you could recommend for me?

RE: Non-leather shoe recommendations

Definitely can recommend some non-leather shoes for you. The Sonic Welded MS574 is one of my favorites:
http://www.nbwebexpress.com/search_results.asp?searchType=quick&qry=ms574&x=0&y=0
The "suede" used on Sonic Welded 574 is synthetic... it's a non-solvent microfiber material called "Tirrenina Suede". You can read more about it here: http://tirrenina.com/

Also, if you're looking for more of a classic look, we built a few 574 styles out of all synthetic leather material. We referred to them as "574 Ceracom". I listed a few below.
574 Blue Ceracom: http://www.nbwebexpress.com/newbalanceML574RC.htm
574 Black Ceracom: http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-m574-black-ceracom
574 Burgundy Ceracom: http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-m574-burgundy-ceracom

The last style I'll recommend is the V74 (made out of all canvas). Take a look at them here: http://www.zappos.com/v74-new-balance

Awesome, thanks for the recommends. It appears that Zappos has the sonic weld 574s in Black/Aqua and Brown/Orange. There are also some other color combinations, such as this all black one:
http://www.zappos.com/images/117/117623/10280-188209-p.jpg

Is that also synthetic, or only the Ceracoms and the new MS574 with the sonic welds?

Also, any chance these black/red 373s are synthetic? http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-m373-black-red?zlfid=111

It would be really awesome if you used some kind of indicator/icon/symbol to make it easier to spot the non-leather models, both online and in the store.

P.s. It looks like you've discontinued the 790—do you have anything similar to replace it?

Yes, Zappos also carries the Sonic Welded MS574. They have 3 color combos available.
Black/Aqua: http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-m574-black-aqua
Brown/Orange: http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-m574-brown-orange
Grey/Lemon: http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-m574-grey-lemon

The other 574 you referenced (http://www.zappos.com/images/117/117623/10280-188209-p.jpg) uses real suede. As of now, the only 574 styles available in synthetic are the Ceracoms and new MS574 sonic welds.

The black/red 373 style uses real suede (http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-m373-black-red?zlfid=111).

Sorry for the confusion... I will mention this to our sales department. I think it's a great idea to add an indicator as you suggested.

No replacement for the 790 at the moment... but we have something in the works for beginning of next year. Keep checking back!

Kestraka, thanks for the great info!! The Sonics look amazing.

I agree with foresmac that a vegetarian indicator would be MUCH appreciated. Often even big retailers like Zappos don't publish the correct copy describing the materials, so having a V or something in the model number would be very helpful.

Going a step further, could NB make an effort to produce vegan shoes? I'm no expert but I think typically the difference between vegetarian and vegan shoes is in the glue. And most shoe makers either use glue made from animal products or not depending on what's cheapest at the time. If NB could make its vegetarian shoes certified vegan (no animal products used at all in the entire shoe) and label them as such (like the Saucony Jazz Lo Pro Vegan) that would be a huge incentive for all the vegans out there. Most of the vegan brands (Draven, Macbeth, Toms, etc) can't hold a candle to NB soles so I think you guys could really put a dent in that market if you wanted to. The V74s were a great step in that direction even though again I'm not sure about the glue (maybe you can clarify?).

Also from the vegetarian perspective it's a shame the Pro Courts (http://www.hanon-shop.com/new-balance_pro-court-bk_pre-buy.html) have leather accents on the N and the heel.

I have to agree, the Pro Courts would be awesome in a veg*n version—maybe the leather bits could be replaced with the Tirrenina "suede."

Kestraka: any info on when these hight top V74s are going to be available? http://www.soleredemption.com/balance-v74/

DJM: Appreciate the feedback very much. I've sent some suggestions to our sales/marketing team regarding better labeling shoes online. I agree that it can get rather confusing if the description doesn't match the actual product.
Also, good question regarding vegan shoes. I had to double check with our factory about the exact glue/adhesives used in making the V74s (I know NB uses a combination of water based and oil based adhesives). They confirmed that the glue used on V74 styles is NOT from animal parts. I'll have a bit more information on specifics by tomorrow morning (or late this evening).

Foresmac: The high top V74s (featured on sole redemption) were done in collaboration with the snowboard brand 686. They will be launching this fall... just in time for snowboard/ski season.

Thanks for digging into all this for us fussy veg*ns, Kestraka. If it helps, there are organizations like Mercy for Animals and Peta2 that I'm sure would be interested in helping get the word out about vegan styles that you sell. Like DJM said above, some of the current brands that target this small but growing demographic aren't especially good at making good shoes for athletes/active people. You can certainly count on me to help evangelize the sonic weld and ceracom 574s.

Also, I'll keep my eyes peeled for the hightop V74s!

No worries... glad I could be of some help!
Appreciate all of your feedback... and thank you for the support.

Wow, great article! I've been wanting a pair of 574 Sonics after reading on size.co.uk that the fabric is supposedly all synthetic suede. The folks at size couldn't confirm this for me, and after checking with Zappos and New Balance support, who both said that the shoe was real suede, I almost gave up. Then I found this article and it looks like I'll be ordering a pair after all!

I would also like to see better descriptions for the shoe materials. Many listings are inaccurate and I always need to contact the manufacturer directly to confirm what materials are used. Even then I might get wrong information.

As for 100% vegan New Balance shoes, if you check the vegan web stores you can find some. If I remember correctly the NBs that are 100% vegan (including the glue) are made in the USA. The NBs made in China could be 100% but the glue source is unknown. I have yet to see an NB Classics model on the vegan sites which is too bad because the Classics are the only styles that I like.

Also, the New Balance online FAQ has a list of vegan shoes, none of which are Classics. Over the years I have looked at this list periodically but never see any Classics or limited editions listed. It would be nice to see the 574 Sonics and some other models (A09 Hemp) put on the list.

Any chance your shoes would say "Made in the USA"?

I just saw this article about the shoe tax likely being lifted for Vietnamese imports: http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/29/business/new-balance-struggles-as-last-remaining-major-u-s-athletic-shoemaker/

While this is tough news on the surface, I believe there is a slow realization coming about that this country's struggling economic problems can be better solved by purchasing American-made products. Bring these processes to the States and get your marketing department to wave its flag; people are taking notice.

lol... I think I've been to that temple in Bali. I think they should keep the name "Sonic 574" and then make the shoe white and blue with hedgehog spikes.