Thats right, those shoes mid life crisis stricken men purchase to help their knees cope with the strain from the excessive weight of their gut are coming to skateboarding. After much discussion and buzz New Balance put out a press release earlier today stating that they have signed an agreement with Black Box Distribution.

“I have always found the heritage and integrity of New Balance inspirational, therefore it’s truly an honor for Black Box to partner with New Balance on the New Balance Numeric project,” says Jamie Thomas, Black Box company founder and professional skateboarder.

Now it is true that New Balance is a great company but what are they going to do with skateboarding? One of New Balance’s signature practices is that they do not appoint professional athletes to promote their brand. Let’s face it guys, that is all that skateboarding does. With team announcements being released on January 4th 2013 at the Agenda Trade Show in Long Beach, California we will find out what the product will look like and who will be riding for New Balance.

They have even covered us here on the East Coast who will not be at the trade show by stating,

“The vision for New Balance Numeric is to bring something unique to skateboarding. We combine the East Coast heritage (we hope they tailor this to East Coast skateboarding) and supreme workmanship of New Balance with the West Coast lifestyle and culture of Skateboarding,” says Michael Akira West, President & CEO at Westlife Distribution

I guess that there is nothing to do but wait this thing out and hope that we will not have another gimmick on our hands.

-Grande