Born From Running: New Balance Kick Off Grey Days 2024
Via New Balance
As jogging was increasing in popularity in the early 80s, New Balance doubled down on developing their first premium running shoe. Alongside expected technological advancements in flexibility and stability, the birth of the saw the brand employ a colourway that was equal parts aesthetic and practical. Noting that runners weren’t exactly fond of getting their shoes dirty, New Balance crafted the silhouette in . The shade was designed to work in harmony with the asphalt, but it went on to mean much, much more. Now the cornerstone of NB's collection, gracing their flagship retro runners like the 990, and , the colour grey has become synonymous with the Boston-born brand. To celebrate this connection, New Balance host ‘Grey Day’ every May – an event that sees the colour spotlighted worldwide.
Since the inaugural event in 2018, the celebration has taken place on one day in May, but in 2024, Grey Day has become Grey Days, with activations and drops planned throughout the month. Kicking things off with the opening of their Grey Shop on May 2, the brand is filling the next few weeks with limited-edition releases of Grey Day products. But that’s not all – paying tribute to the colour grey, NB have also released a short film, which was previewed at the event in Sydney, and hosted a panel discussion. There's heaps going on for Grey Days 2024, so here's a recap.
Presenting Your Grey Days Drops
New Balance are known for prioritising timelessness over trends, and dropping products in a shade like grey is a surefire way to ensure silhouettes look fresh for longer. For the opening of their Grey Shop, New Balance prove just how versatile the colour really is by applying grey tones to both heritage models and newer silhouettes alike. Included in the mix are Grey Day versions of the 1998 -designed as well as , which launched in 2020.
The Grey Day releases extend to a number of limited-edition launches too. New Balance will be plating up a celebratory and on May 17, with both the models making their Grey Day debuts. Once again juxtaposing old and new, the ultra-modern sculptural WRPD Runner and Y2K retro runner-inspired 1906R both feature distressed detailing calling to stone and its erosion over time. Continuing the performance theme, New Balance have decked out one of their specialist running shoes, the , in tonal grey shades – which is in fact a performance shoe first! The iteration feels like a modern-day adaptation of the Grey Day origin story and comes finished with suede detailing for a reminder of premium runners past. This pair will touch down on May 20.
What Went Down
As the celebrations rolled out across the globe, the local conoscenti descended on Sydney for an intimate gathering that paid tribute to the brand’s running heritage (and signature shade, of course). Surrounded by this year’s product line-up, guests came together over tasty treats and thematically on-point libations from Beau for the world-first screening of the ‘Grey Days’ film, produced by imprint American Haiku. Spanning seven vignettes, the seven-minute film showcases the brand’s history through a 'grey’ lens, portraying its cultural reach via a series of individual moments that hero NB's significance across generations and global subcultures, from the DMV to Tokyo. Between nods to iconic NB adverts and cameos from UK rapper Dave, New Orleans defensive end Chase Young, and track star Brianna Selby, a 60s-style animation gives us a crash course in the ultimate performance-cum-lifestyle model, the 990 (whose subsequent models serve as the embodiment of the Born from Running theme throughout). Check out the film for yourself below.
Following the film's preview, former international hockey player, now presenter, Georgie Parker led a panel featuring New Balance’s VP of the APAC region Darren Tucker, Unofficial Run Club Founder Chad Cohen and Sneaker Freaker’s own Audrey Bugeja. Of course, the love of grey was central to the conversation, but so too was New Balance’s hot streak and the secret sauce that has seen them capture footwear fanatics of all kinds in recent years. Cohen spoke of how run club culture has ballooned, not only driving the sport, but more importantly, the community that comes with it – not to mention the New Balances on his feet. Delving into the Boston brand’s significant cultural cache, SF Managing Editor Bugeja talked to how grey NBs have garnered local fanclubs around the globe (the aforementioned locales of Tokyo and the DMV are examples that go down in Newbie lore).
With Grey Days celebrations well and truly underway, keep the party going with upcoming drops at the .