New Balance: From Arch Support Manufacturer to Footwear Icon
How the New England brand changed sneakers by merging aesthetic appeal with performance innovations.
Like many things quintessentially American, the story of New Balance begins abroad. In 1906, William J. Riley emigrated from Ireland to the United States and founded the New Balance Arch Support Company in the Boston area. Inspiration for the brand’s first arch support came from—of all things—the three-clawed anatomy of chickens. Riley even kept a chicken foot on his desk, explaining to prospective customers that chickens’ three-pronged foot resulted in perfect balance.
Steadily increasing its output of arch supports and other products designed to improve shoe fit, salesman Arthur Hall joined the fledgling company in 1927 and became a business partner seven years later. In 1956, Hall sold the company to his daughter, Eleanor, and her husband, Paul Kidd.
The duo continued manufacturing arch supports until 1960, when New Balance presented its inaugural footwear model, the Trackster, the world’s first running shoe to feature a ripple sole. An option that continues to define New Balance to this day, the Trackster was also the first running shoe to come in varying widths. College track teams including Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Boston University adopted the Trackster, co-signing the sneaker’s performance capabilities and hinting at bigger things to come for the steadily growing brand.
Riding the Jogging Wave
In 1972, New Balance changed hands yet again when Jim Davis (who remains owner and chairman) bought the company on the day of that year's Boston Marathon. Davis’ acquisition perfectly aligned with the jogging boom of the ’70s, a phenomenon based in the Boston area, causing New Balance’s product offering and popularity to skyrocket. One of the brand’s earlier models from this era, the New Balance 320 was well-received by runners, even being selected as the leading running shoe on the market by Runner's World Magazine in 1976. The 320 was also the first New Balance shoe to bear the brand’s signature “N” on the upper.
Building on the era’s unprecedented momentum, New Balance introduced what is widely considered its flagship product, the 990, in 1982, changing the trajectory of running and sneaker culture forever. The shoe’s made-in-USA quality set it apart from the competition, arriving at a time when most other performance sneakers were manufactured in South Korea or Vietnam. (New Balance still operates five factories across Maine and Massachusetts, where the 900 and other models such as the 992 and 993 are made.) The price point reflected the 990’s craftsmanship, becoming the first athletic shoe to ask $100 (nearly $300 today). And like many other characteristics that have come to define the New Balance brand, the 990 launched with a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign that claimed, “Out of 1000, this shoe is a 990.”
Legendary footwear designer Steven Smith made considerable contributions to the New Balance catalog in the later part of the decade, creating the 574 and 1500. The 574 brought together the worlds of road and trail running in one shoe, becoming a favorite amongst mixed-surface runners before being embraced as a “wear-anywhere” shoe by just about everyone else. Smith’s made-in-UK 1500 became another fan-favorite, known for its remarkably simple design and the miniature “N” on the upper. In recent years, Smith (now designing for Yeezy), has been rightfully credited as the godfather of the Dad Sneaker, responsible for merging aesthetic appeal with performance innovation.
The 990 Reinvents Itself Again and Again
As New Balance’s most iconic silhouette, the 990 has been updated five different times, using a sequential “version” naming convention with each new iteration. Although the 990v2 was somewhat overlooked when it was first introduced, it was the shoe’s third generation that truly took off.
In the early 2010s, New Balance and the 990—then on the 990v3—in particular experienced newfound appreciation as “normcore” began dominating street style and social media feeds, inspired in part by the distinctly ’90s uniforms of Steve Jobs, Jerry Seinfeld and others. But like all trends, the ironic aesthetics of normcore began waning within a few years. One aspect of the normcore look proved resilient, however, as “chunky” sneakers started their gradual and then sudden ascendance.
New Balance, long held in high regard for its focus on comfort and practical design, exploded as a form of cultural currency. Unassuming grey New Balance models straddled the line between progressive aesthetics and practical functionality—just as Tinker intended—becoming the sneaker du jour for generations of fans. In fact, when New Balance debuted the 990v5 in 2019, the accompanying campaign nodded to the 990’s seemingly impossible duality, claiming, “Worn by supermodels in London and dads in Ohio.”
Collaborations and Expansions
But none of New Balance’s success today is mere coincidence. Embraced by footwear enthusiasts well into the ’90s and early ’00s, New Balance solidified its place in sneaker culture by teaming up with a number of influential names in the mid to late 2000s, a time when some of the earliest and most collectible sneaker collaborations started to trickle out. A brief overview of these partnerships reads like a primer on sneakers. Stüssy. Solebox. Concepts. colette. Hanon. Kith. Foot Patrol. And so many more. Today, New Balance’s collaboration program has expanded to include a galaxy of independent names, from JJJJound and Stray Rats to No Vacancy Inn, Joe Freshgoods and Salehe Bembury.
On the performance end of the spectrum, New Balance expanded its presence in professional sports by signing NBA star Kawhi Leonard, releasing Leonard’s signature OMN1S sneaker in 2019. More recently, an entirely different New Balance basketball silhouette has claimed the limelight. First released in 1989, the New Balance 550 returned in 2020, supported by a string of collaborative colorways with New York’s Aimé Leon Dore. Like so much of the brand’s catalog, the low-top silhouette represents New Balance at its purest, distilling elements of performance and design down to their essence.
Overseas, a Japanese division of New Balance called Tokyo Design Studio has been busy cooking up a number of unique products that are anything but heritage designs. The Tokyo-based design incubator experiments with technological possibilities, producing novel items like the 3-in-1 Niobium hiking boot in collaboration with Snow Peak, which features a modular design that can be worn as a basecamp-ready slipper, a low-top hiking shoe or a high-top trail runner.
On top of all this, New Balance and Jack Harlow recently teamed up, making Kentucky’s own only the second musician to join the New England brand after Jaden Smith. A longtime supporter, Harlow name-drops the brand on “WHATS POPPIN,” showcasing his love for New Balance with, “Now I do anything that New Balance say.”
New Balance Today
As a brand laser-focused on creating products rooted in performance and innovation since Riley first set up shop in Massachusetts, New Balance’s track record speaks for itself. The brand even seems to possess a special kind of clairvoyance, spotting up-and-coming designers before they become household names.
From the ripple sole-equipped Trackster to drafting the blueprint for Dad Shoes, New Balance transcends cultures and generations. And with a veritable archive of heritage models combined with new and updated versions of iconic silhouettes, there’s no doubt New Balance will continue to transcend cultures and generations for years to come. The New Balance 990v6, set to release in 2022, is the first step in a journey that’s just getting started.