By signing Cooper Flagg, Shohei Ohtani, Coco Gauff and other young superstars, the 119-year-old sneaker and apparel brand is on a mission to redefine its place in the sports hierarchy.
0:00 Introduction To New Balance
0:45 How New Balance Has Shifted Perceptions Of The Brand
2:11 New Balance’s Relationship With Brand Ambassadors
4:37 New Balance’s Advantages
6:17 New Balance’s Cultural Capital
8:29 What New Balance Needs To Do To Stay Relevant
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2025/06/24/how-new-balance-went-from-dad-shoe-to-scoring-the-no-1-nba-draft-prospect/
Correction: Chris Furse is the Chief Client Officer at VML, not a strategist.
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these shoes are for grandfathers
In Asia especially Taiwan and Japan, NB has a trend on outdoorsy styles of clothing that makes it uniquely suited to the lifestyle of pairing a 990,992’s or any series. I even bought the NB 35th Anniversary 996 series in Japan. The design twist on the NB 996 “Gray” 35th Anniversary takes place on the midsole. The white midsole is now yellowed out mimicking the glues that they use to join the soles to give it a worn-in, vintage look.
dude, as early as 2015. New Balance was still ridiculed as dad shoes in social media. my wife who is a gen z loving it. I find this is a really astonishing development for NB.
Lots of comments about NB still being a dad shoe and taste changing in their favour. These people clearly haven't seen their running and athletic shoes 😂 All best in class 👌🏻 And people are getting sick of being ripped off by the other big brands. NB for the price is superior quality in almost every aspect.
Give a retro Adidas from the 1970's any time.
In the early 80s, I ran 2 marathons in New Balance shoes. Incredibly comfortable shoes and the only maker offering a narrow width. The only thing I never understood is why they still have the N on the shoes instead of the more stylish NB logo.
As a runner for over 40yrs, I went exclusively with NB shoes about 25yrs ago…because they have the best selection of shoes in Wide. Especially with Adidas and Nike, they have essentially no offerings in Wide. I have tried ASICS, Brooks, etc…but NB are the most comfortable shoes for me.
And I like their ironic cool factor…
No one mentioned that people buy them because they’re made in the USA.
nike is dying, this is coming from a die heart nike fan since i was a kid.
Honestly, the 574 is the staple. There are some really over designed shoes that took dad shoe to busy and techie. That might be the trend du jour but I dunno if it's going to last. 993s are kinda the edge depending on color way on being too busy IMHO in terms of lifestyle sneaker. They should chill out on that.