What does British craft mean today? New Balance and Hip explore

The latest campaign from New Balance and Hip explores what Made in UK means today: honouring the precision and heritage of British manufacturing while capturing the craftsmanship behind the creative process.

At the heart of the storytelling is a deep dive into the significance of British craft, seen through the lens of New Balance’s Made in UK footwear. Shot entirely in the UK, the project highlights silhouettes built out of the brand’s Flimby factory, including the 991v2, 1500, and its latest heritage-inspired style, The Allerdale. Each design embodies the balance of tradition and innovation that defines New Balance’s approach to British manufacturing. From the materials selected to the hands that construct each shoe, the collection reflects a meticulous attention to detail that has been honed over decades.

Below: Directed by John Joseph Holt / Produced by Fin Mulligan Wild

To bring this story to life, New Balance and Hip worked with a UK-based creative team, ensuring that the campaign was not only about British craft but made by those who actively shape it. At the heart of it all is a poem by John Joseph Holt, an award-winning writer and founder of Law magazine. Since launching in 2011, Law has celebrated everyday Britain, hailing the unsung and inspiring a new generation through John's deeply romantic and provocative vision.

For this project, Holt’s poem was shaped by time spent at New Balance’s Flimby factory and along the Cumbrian coastline, drawing from conversations in local shops, firsthand experience of the production line, and personal memories of visiting his grandmother in the Lake District. “I imagined it as a pair of shoes leaving the factory and passing through the landscape before arriving in store or at someone’s front door,” he explains. His words ground the campaign in the real voices and rhythms of the region, connecting past and present through craft.

The photography and styling of the project reinforce this ethos, with a new lookbook that showcases the versatility of the collection. Rather than adhering to a single vision of British heritage, New Balance’s British-made footwear fits seamlessly into both classic and contemporary wardrobes. The 991v2, 1500, and Allerdale are positioned in the lookbook to highlight their adaptability: worn casually with workwear staples, elevated with tailored pieces, or paired with performance-inspired layers. The result is a campaign that frames Made in UK as something dynamic, ever-evolving, and deeply embedded in British culture.

Beyond the shoes themselves, the story of the project also nods to the wider ecosystem of creative production. Every aspect of the shoot – from photography to videography – was helmed by a team of British creatives whose work (much like the shoemakers at Flimby) relies on skill, precision, and an eye for detail. By framing Made in UK as a broader celebration of craft, New Balance and Hip move beyond product storytelling to explore what it really means to create with intention.

In a world where mass production often overshadows artistry, the Made in UK campaign stands as a reminder of the people behind the process. Whether in the construction of a shoe or the composition of an image, craft is at the heart of it all.