In celebration of this years 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, many brands have looked to the populous super power for inspiration. New Balance has tackled the challenge via one of Chinese culture’s most popular institutions in Chinese Opera. Often featuring many colorful masks as a necessity for their wardrobe and story telling, New Balance has applied this concept to three different 576 models. Each with a strong conceptual background, shoe concepts include “Jing” (orange) who references power and force, “Chou” (red) focuses itself on crafty and cunning characteristics and finally “Mo” (green) which is based on maturity and honesty. The China Mask collection will release August 2008 with a suggested price of $100 USD.