New Balance 1000 x Salehe Bembury “Fog Be The Cloud”
Words, SVD. Photos, New Balance, Salehe Bembury, SVD.
September 5, 2025.
Salehe Bembury and New Balance write a new chapter in their ongoing story with the release of the New Balance 1000 x Salehe Bembury “Fog Be The Cloud”, a silhouette that blends innovation, heritage, and a deeply personal creative vision.
Who is Salehe Bembury?
Talking about Salehe Bembury means talking about one of the most singular and influential voices in contemporary footwear design. Born in New York in 1986 and raised in Tribeca, Bembury grew up in an urban landscape undergoing cultural transformation. His academic training, paired with his curiosity for everyday objects and his ability to see fashion beyond pure aesthetics, gave him the tools to define a creative identity of his own—one where form and function constantly interact.
His career began at Payless ShoeSource and Cole Haan, where he worked on lifestyle and sport silhouettes. The big break came when he joined the Yeezy team at adidas under Kanye West’s direction. There he refined his visual language and learned to understand the impact of pop culture on design—an experience that opened the door to his next chapter: Becoming head of men’s footwear at Versace.
Refusing to stay in the comfort zone of big names, Bembury founded his own creative studio, Spunge. It was through this platform that some of his most iconic collaborations were born: with Crocs, reinventing the clog with the Pollex Clog, Pollex Slide, and Juniper; with Puma, experimenting with the brand’s athletic heritage; and with Moncler, reinterpreting Italian technical elegance. But it’s his collaboration with New Balance that cemented his status in sneaker culture—a partnership where storytelling, technical expertise, and aesthetic sensitivity come together to produce some of the most coveted models in recent years.
Salehe Bembury x New Balance: a shared journey
The relationship between Salehe Bembury and New Balance shows how a designer can use the archives of a historic brand to create something entirely new and relevant. When Bembury connected with New Balance in 2020, the Boston brand was looking to step forward in the design sneaker scene, targeting a younger, culturally engaged audience. His first major contribution came with the New Balance 2002R x Salehe Bembury “Peace Be The Journey” and its successor, “Water Be The Guide”, inspired by the Grand Canyon and the vital force of water. These weren’t just colorways, but narratives turned into sneakers, evoking sand, rock, rivers, and desert vegetation.
Then came the reinterpretations of the NB 574 through the experimental 574 YURT, with its exaggerated outdoor sole and colorways like “Shark Skin”, “Beige Pink”, and “Team Forest Green”. He later delivered gems like the 990v2 Made in USA “Sand Be The Time”, with a warm sandy palette inspired by natural landscapes, or the 1500 “Olive Grey”, a nod to European sobriety reimagined with freshness. His line expanded with the vibrant NB 530 “Prosperity Be The Prize”, rethinking a 1990s running classic. And of course, his work on models like the 1906R and 991v2 shows how his tactile textures, naturalistic storytelling, and masterful use of color have directly influenced the way New Balance presents its most innovative projects.
In just a few years, Bembury has made every New Balance drop feel like a cultural event.
New Balance 1000 x Salehe Bembury “Fog Be The Cloud”
With the New Balance 1000 x Salehe Bembury “Fog Be The Cloud”, the designer returns to his strength: reinterpreting the brand’s archive through the lens of nature. This time, he draws inspiration from the Smoky Mountains, translating the chromatic and sensory richness of this iconic landscape into the sneaker. The upper combines a mesh base with leather overlays and textured suede panels on the toe and reinforcements.
The colorway reflects the diversity of the environment: a soft blue inspired by the mountain ridges, a coral red tone evoking sunsets, and deep greens reminiscent of the dense forest. A rubber sole completes the design, breathing Y2K retrofuturism but always under Bembury’s storytelling vision.
The “Fog Be The Cloud” is now part of the SVD catalog. Get your pair now!
