Andrew Reynolds Brings New Balance Innovation to Numeric with His Tech-Heavy 933
In 2022, signed one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. With three decades in the caper, adding Andrew Reynolds to the roster shocked the industry and all eyes were suddenly on NB to see if his footwear legacy would continue. Three years later, Numeric are finally releasing the 933, aka Andrew Reynolds’s next signature model, aka skateboarding’s most closely guarded footwear secret.
Reynolds has been at the forefront of street skateboarding for the past 30 years, with countless appearances in landmark videos documenting his graceful and groundbreaking style. His business CV is packed with highlights. A short tenure at Vans was preceded by two decades as Emerica’s marquee rider where he produced 13 signature shoes, some of which are skateboarding’s most cherished. His wider cultural impact spans from appearing in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game series to launching his own hardgoods brand, in 2000. The success of Baker has been built on the back of cult classic videos including 2005’s , 2012’s and most recently, 2024’s .
Jeff Mikut, head of design at New Balance Numeric, worked closely with Reynolds for over 18 months to create the 933, a process that he says was initially ‘scary’. ‘I had to create something really compelling but I had a really highbrow client whose name is Andrew Reynolds,’ Mikut says. ‘Once we started and I saw how much he was bringing to the table, I felt really comfortable. I’ve worked with a lot of people over the years, but he was the most involved and in tune with what he was actually looking for. He didn’t just show up and say “Copy this, copy that!”’.
Reynolds agreed that the 933 was the most involved he has ever been in the development of his signature shoes. ‘When you're in your 20s, you can skate in whatever gets made for you. I wanted to take advantage of all the New Balance technology that was available. I definitely saw this as a huge opportunity.’
Halfway through the design process, Reynolds and Mikut took a trip to New Balance’s head office in Boston. Reynolds figured it would be a fun tour, but the visit went way beyond his expectations. ‘We were in meetings with people from running to basketball and the scientists who break down the shoes and materials.’ The trip ended up a critical part of the development process as the 933’s ABZORB midsole came to life. Mikut explains, ‘The innovation team had this concept for basketball that was low to the ground with high absorption. We saw that and immediately applied it to skateboarding. Minimum thickness of foot to board, with high absorption rates. We took this initial concept that was gluing a material onto a material and learnt how to make it without glue. This is a huge step forward for skateboarding footwear.’
Mikut continues, ‘We chose two different densities, the vertical is softer for the underfoot feel, so it’s more like a running shoe when you are running up or out of a trick. The side walls are firm so that when you’re banking left and right or landing in a weird way, you’re not stepping out of the sole. This helps contain your foot in your lateral and medial movements.’
After speaking to New Balance Design Director Johnathan Grondin about signature models in other sports and the personal touches athletes add to their shoes, Mikut and Reynolds applied some unique touches to the 933. ‘Without being corny,’ Mikut says, ‘all the details are super subtle, but you will discover them if you sit and stare at the product.’
Ten notches in the toe represent milestones in Reynolds’s life: 1978 when he was born; 1987 when he started skateboarding; 1995 when he turned pro for Birdhouse; 1998 when he was awarded Thrasher’s ‘Skater of the Year’; 2000 when he started Baker Skateboards; 2002 when he got sober; 2005 when his daughter was born; 2010 when his part of Stay Gold was released; 2011 when he met his long-term partner; and 2022 when he signed with Numeric. Additional ‘numeric’ easter eggs are strewn throughout the shoe. ‘On the back of the 933 there is a little drawing of a cloud my daughter did. Under the insole are all the different numbers that didn’t make it on the shoe,’ says Reynolds.
‘We knew people would trip on the 933 number no matter what,’ Mikut says. ‘So we have all the possible numbers that it could've been crossed out in the shoe – 8055, 333, 999, 993 and then uncrossed 933.’ Reynolds’s long-time nickname ‘The Boss’ is referenced as ‘8055’, and ‘333’ has long become synonymous with him because of his ‘Madness’, an obsessive tendency to do three things three times that became memorable after appearing in a of series Epicly Later’d.
‘Out of all the New Balances I like, the ones that start with “9” are elite, especially the 990 series. I just wanted my shoe to start with a nine,’ adds Reynolds.
While the 933 isn’t manufactured in the USA, the silhouette is heavily inspired by the 990 series. ‘If you look at the 993 and look at my shoe, they’re all the same panels, just adjusted for skateboarding,’ Reynolds says. ‘I just wanted to make it look like a New Balance.’
Until recently, the 933 was skateboarding’s most closely guarded secret. Early in the process, Numeric Product Manager Nick Pappas put forward the idea of keeping the design under wraps until just before its official release. ‘He made a good point about how back in the day you never saw shoes until you walked into the skate shop. You had a catalogue maybe, if you were lucky. We wanted to create that nostalgic “can’t wait to see it thing” again, which is really hard in this modern era,’ says Mikut.
Strict, if not amusing, conditions were put in place. For wear tests, the team would go to Reynolds’s private park with a box of shoes, wall the area off, skate with no phones and once Reynolds was done, they’d take the shoes back to the office. Mikut reminisces about the strangeness of that time, ‘I think the hardest thing was telling Andrew Reynolds he couldn’t take his shoe out of the building. He is so well known that the chance of him getting photographed, or even accidentally photographed, is pretty high.’
The shoes weren’t even included in Numeric catalogues, with basic line drawings used to avoid leaks. That meant shops had to buy not knowing exactly what the 933 would even look like. Numeric’s Australian Sales Representative Cameron Sparkes sold four ranges of the 933 blindly, a task that was easier than he initially expected. ‘Everyone responded positively and they understood the reasons why,’ says Sparkes. ‘Reynolds has had a really long lineage of top-selling shoes and there was a lot of faith from retailers when placing orders.’
Riely Walker, the manager at Sydney’s , echoed Sparkes’s sentiment, ‘Obviously with the Reynolds name attached you’re going to trust it, because we know how particular he is about anything with his name on it. It says a lot about this partnership that shops were jumping on a blind buy for a year’s worth of stock.’
New Balance has resonated with skateboarders in a way that’s unique among the sports footwear brands that have entered the industry. Non-endemic brands were once viewed with suspicion in part due to a propensity to scoop up riders from long-established skater-owned outfits. NB offered the antithesis when they launched in 2013, according to British journalist , who covers skateboarding with a focus on the and . ‘The initial line-up had some skaters who didn’t have footwear sponsors beforehand and that felt inherently non-aggressive. Sponsoring an East Coast skater like Jordan Trahan, at that time, showed a certain sensibility, a consideration towards something of the underdog,’ says Golding. ‘Tom Knox being a part of the fully fledged team and not relegated to an “international” position was notable and look how significant he is to skateboarding today.’
In January 2025, the public finally got a first look at the 933 on skateboarding's most mantlepiece, the cover of Thrasher Magazine. The moment was yet another milestone for Reynolds, coming 27 years after his first in 1998 and 15 years after his last in 2010. It also marks the fifth time he has graced the front page, an achievement only held by four others in the magazine's 44-year history.
‘That was insane! I wrote a list of goals for 2025 and one of them was to get a Thrasher cover. When they brought the magazine over, I was so surprised, I had no idea that was happening,’ says Reynolds. The excitement rattled through the Numeric office, says Mikut. ‘That wasn’t planned, it just worked out that way. We were all like “Wow, what a way to reveal the shoe”’. The magic moment was vindication for the entire team that worked so hard to keep the 933 a secret.
Reynolds also embodies one of skateboarding’s distinctions from mainstream sports perhaps better than anyone, pushing into a new frontier with no age cap on ability and stylistic prowess. At 46 years young, athletes of his stature in other sports would often be embracing elder-statesman roles or viewed as long past their prime. Reynolds’s indefatigable longevity has created a cross-generational appeal few in skateboarding can match. In part, this is down to the many hats he’s worn over the years as company owner, video editor, Thrasher’s ‘Skater of the Year’ and his legendary reputation as ‘Your favourite skater’s favourite skater’.
Sebastian Palmer, general manager of New Balance Numeric, seized on all of these notions when he signed Reynolds. ‘You can’t waste Andrew’s name and talent on a skateboard. One of the ways I sold him to New Balance was using the classic Jay Z line, “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man”. We’re not just taking on a skateboarder and a legend, we’re taking someone on with this incredible business experience and design knowledge,’ says Palmer.
Reynolds is extremely appreciative of Numeric’s approach. ‘A lot of brands with a skate program would prefer to give the new 20-year-old a shoe. I didn’t go into this chasing some deal, I went into it being like, “I’ll just wear the 1010 [Tiago Lemos’s shoe], and if I get on New Balance, that’s awesome.”’
‘One of my big goals was to be able to put it on, skate and not think about it. Not being like “This part is rubbing my foot weird” or “I’d change this part if I could”. I’ve never questioned the fit, the feeling, or the way it works. I know that if I grab a pair and go on a two-week trip, I’m good. They aren’t going to break or fall apart, they’re going to stay sturdy, I’ll be able to jump down stairs and they’re going to work.’
With its sleek runner-inspired silhouette, responsive ABZORB midsole cushioning and super durable construction, the New Balance Numeric 933 is everything Andrew Reynolds ever wanted from a skate shoe, and a whole lot more. But what else would you expect from The Boss?