Netflix Commission A Custom New Balance 550 With Real Meteor Fragments
We've seen some crazy customs in 2021 – , epic and , to name a few – but Netflix may have just taken the cake thanks to an out-of-this-world made with real meteor fragments and dubbed the 'Dibiasky'.
If you're wondering why Netflix would commission such a specific sneaker, it's to promote Adam McKay's forthcoming film Don't Look Up, which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio and is exclusive to the platform. The shoe's name comes from Don't Look Up's fictional Dibiasky Comet, and its build incorporates fragments of the Seymchan meteorite, discovered in Russia's Magadan District and dated to 4.5 billion years ago.
Manchester-based sneaker customiser Matt Burgess of MattB Customs took pieces from 34 sections of the meteorite and added them to the white leather sneaker, embellishing the midfoot's 'N' logo and the lateral quarter overlay with real-life space olivine and peridot space rocks! The crystallised patterns you see are a result of these materials becoming suspended in the asteroid's iron-nickel core as it fell towards earth. There's also a custom tongue tag and a metal lace deubre with what's called a 'Widmanstätten pattern', created as a meteorite cools off over millions of years after hitting the ground.
If all that's a bit too scientific for you, we get it and can say it more simply: Netflix paid a customiser to put pieces of an actual meteorite on a basketball sneaker. Even uber-popular 550's can't top that!
This meteorite-equipped Netflix x New Balance custom sneaker will be available at Sotheby's with a buy-it-now-price of £10,000 GBP (roughly $13,206) on December 17, with proceeds from the sale going to the World Wildlife Fund.
If you're looking for more New Balance news, check out our list of 2021's 10 best NB drops – some of 'em will set you back a pretty penny, but none will cost you a five-figure sum!