Sonic Welds, Hair Dryers and Goat Leather

The Sonic welded 574 attracted a fair bit of attention when it was announced in January. The Sonic welded collection is a new series of colors and textures and the first New Balance shoes made with a sonic welding process. Sonic welding utilizes tremendous heat and pressure to create an airtight (and watertight) seal using significantly less labor than is required for traditional stitching. To commemorate their launch this week, we threw a few questions about the shoes at New Balance Senior Product Developer Kenneth Straka. And in celebration of that saved labor, Ken spoke to us from a beach in Bali.