rational geekery

I’m an incredibly loyal character by nature, often confused, misguided even, but usually loyal. It is this disposition that leads me on endless quests to find brands, people, and institutions, on which to bestow my unending patronage.

If you are the makers of a product, which has been deemed worthy of my devotion, you will have acquired a customer who will always seek out your products in preference.

Many people make their retail choices in respect to a criterion of price, expedience, and recommendation; while these are important, and – at least in the case of price - sometimes prohibitive considerations, my first and primary concern, is trust.

I may pay marginally more for a product or service from a vendor who has earned this loyalty, but this does not prevent the vendor from exclusion, if their products fail to match expectation – loyalty is mutual, I’m sure you will agree.

So I will endeavour to pay homage, to those products, services, and - if the mood takes me - the people, who have earned my faith.

The first nomination is a very special one, and dear to my heart. It is wise to invest in a good bed, and a good pair of shoes, because, as the maxim goes, you’re usually in one or the other. And it is a pair of running shoes that earns the first recommendation: the New Balance 860.

The ‘860’ is a variant on the popular ‘850’, which was produced for New Balance’s Japanese customers. It’s a simple trainer, designed for the discerning roadrunner, who wants comfort and durability, over gimmicky technology. This is not to suggest that the ‘860’ doesn’t have style, it most certainly does, but that it’s not a shoe that constantly checks itself out in a mirror (metaphorically speaking of course).

My current pair of 860’s were purchased in Nottingham for the paltry sum of £25, marked down from the usual retail price of around £55, and are – over 12-months later – in splendid shape. A new pair of 860’s are a perfectly good pair of shoes, but it’s a well-worn pair, that really impresses. Having moulded around my foot, they are an extension of my body, rather like, I guess, a toenail.

If I am not in my 860’s, there will be a very good reason; probably because, I’m in my bed.

The new balance 860