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

are reissuing the mythical 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 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, 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 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 team for images. Cop NB’s wallet-busting and comfort king model on May 29 at the Melbourne-based boutique.