Best of New Balance 2023

It's no secret that New Balance had a stellar year. They unsurprisingly took out the top spot for the brand whose ‘cool’ factor has increased the most over the last 12 months. They've been on fire with colabs in particular this year, crafting timeless pieces that still hold solid design value. The 1906R is one of their newest silhouettes, and it attracted some of these top-notch colabs, with co-signs from GANNI, Comme des Garçons, AURALEE and Salehe Bembury. Their general releases also rose temps, and Sneaker Freaker had some special moments with the Boston brand.

Out of a packed year, here is the best of New Balance in 2023.

MADE in USA

Teddy Santis is still at the helm of New Balance MADE in USA and continues to provide the sneakersphere with epic seasonal collections. Following the designer’s debut year as creative director, 2023 saw a wider array of models used including the 996 and a small selection of 998s. While pairs didn’t sell through as quickly as the previous year, Santis still crafted some epic colour combos. One of the highlights was the New Balance 990v4 ‘White/Green’ which boasted simplistic colour-blocking and subtle faux-vintage vibes. A second highlight was the NB990 and NB990v3 ‘Green and Gold’, closely followed by the ‘Olive Leaf’ NB990v4 and NB998.

Aimé Leon Dore

Speaking of Teddy Santis, his own brand, Aimé Leon Dore continued its longstanding partnership with New Balance throughout this year. Despite not being as hype as the years gone by, ALD came correct with plenty of crisp collaborative models. Kicking off the year, they dropped the Rainier, resurrected the NB860v2 and dressed the NB1906R. More NB550s and NB650Rs followed suit, with the duo rounding it all out with a duo of highly underrated 996s.

General Release Heat

It wasn’t all premium nubuck and silhouettes made in the USA or UK that caught our eye this year. New Balance’s general release offering stepped it up a notch throughout the year, especially with their NB610. Designer Yue Wu, who was responsible for the ‘Protection Pack’, seems to be in charge of the model, and has been crafting crisp colourways for everyone to enjoy. The NB580, NB550, NB2002R, NB1906R and NB9060 continued to dominate the streets throughout 2023 – it was hard to walk around in public without catching a pair on-foot.

Collaborative Clout

In 2023, New Balance collaborative output rivalled that of their biggest competitors, as they linked with a wide range of creatives to craft some perfectly executed linkups. Ronnie Fieg was one of the highlights, joining forces multiple times with the Boston-based brand for three-way linkups. The first was with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to craft a clean NB998 that took inspiration from the late architects Broadacre City concept. The second was the sought-after venture with Madison Square Garden that saw two NB990v6s covered in New York-inspired builds. Another familiar face returned to the New Balance roster, and that was Concepts ‘C-Note’, returning for the first time since 2013. Aminé was a new face this year, dropping two variations of the 610, alongside Action Bronson who showed he knows how to design a shoe. Rounding it out, Patta, Carhartt WIP and Joe Freshgoods were some of 2023’s other highlight collaborations.

Sneaker Freaker Events

Together, Sneaker Freaker and New Balance celebrated plenty of milestones in 2023, with some of them together! This year, we partnered with the Boston-based brand to celebrate two key moments for them. The first was Melbourne’s ‘Moon Daze’ Grey Day party, which helped celebrate New Balance’s iconic colour. The second party went down in Seoul, where together we celebrated the iconic NB574 and the rich history behind the iconic late-80s model. To close out the year, we also had the exclusive reveal of Salehe Bembury's newest NB colab, Heat Be Hot, on the cover of Issue 49!