New Balance Collaborates With Charaf Tajer on Moroccan Footwear Line

Rabat – The American sports footwear and apparel brand New Balance is collaborating with French Moroccan designer Charaf Tajer to launch a new Moroccan-inspired sport shoe line, “Casablanca x New Balance 327.”

The collaboration is set to come out in two colors, green and orange, and is inspired by New Balance’s archive of ’70s trainers.

“The 327 has many classic features that take inspiration from our archives but is tweaked just enough to provide something new and exciting,” the collaboration manager at New Balance said.

According to Tajer, the two colors are inspired by his dual French-Moroccan heritage. The orange symbolizes Moroccan oranges.

“The design perfectly matches the aesthetic of Casablanca, it’s the ultimate leisure shoe,” the Moroccan designer said in a press release.

“It’s an honor to partner with New Balance on this exciting new style as Casablanca’s first design collaboration,” he continued.

“I know [New Balance] works with few fashion houses so to be chosen to do this with a new silhouette is so special and unique for me,” Tajer added.

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the release of “Casablanca 327” has been postponed until April 18. The collection will be available online globally at 43 stores in Europe, the US, Canada, China, and Japan.

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In an October 2018 interview with Vogue, Tajer described his brand as “a French brand with a Moroccan souvenir.”

“Casablanca to me is always a word that sounds like vacation,” the designer told Vogue, adding that his parents met in Casablanca.

The Moroccan designer reached the final of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy (LVMH) prize for young designers that took place in Paris on March 10.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the seventh LVMH prize organizers decided to cancel the final round of the competition, and name all the eight finalists winners, including the French Moroccan artist.

The $325,000 award will be distributed equally between the participating designers.