10. New Balance M992MD ‘Madness’
While the 992 is perhaps the most sought-after in the New Balance catalogue over the last few years, the one that makes this list is perhaps one you’ve never seen. If you missed it—there’s a good reason. The M992MD was only released in China and is nearly impossible to get outside of the country (though, through an exhaustive effort, we did manage to snag a pair).
Rumour has it that this was originally intended to be a collaboration with Madness Store Beijing but never came to fruition, with the pairs instead ending up on sale in Chinese New Balance stores and nowhere else. Regardless, the sail and cream pairing is truly gorgeous, making it one of the best 992s to release in recent years.
9. Stone Island x New Balance Tokyo Design Studio FuelCell RC Elite V2
New Balance’s Tokyo Design Studio has long been doing some of the most interesting work in the company, but this collaboration with Italy’s Stone Island is its most head-turning, a premium collaboration on a contemporary performance running shoe. While each of the other shoes on this list are ‘running shoes’ in heritage, they are effectively lifestyle shoes, and each collaboration is clearly geared towards everyday street style because of that.
Stone Island bringing its brand identity to this contemporary running shoe re-positions it as a casual wear shoe in a truly startling way, laying the groundwork for shoe like it to work their way into fashion in a way we haven’t yet seen, but surely will. A sign of things to come, and a thrilling one.
8. New Balance x Aimé Leon Dore 993 ‘Beef and Broccoli’
Because of its foot-note (pun intended) in history and pop culture as the signature shoe of Apple founder Steve Jobs in his iconic keynote years in the 2000s, the 992 gets all the love that it deserves, but its younger brother, the 993, is ignored for the most part by sneakerheads and New Balance alike, a shoe that takes inspiration both from the 991 and 992 and is the most clear antecedent to the 2013 990v3 in style but nevertheless has been ignored in the collaboration front for the most part, with very few colourways in existence.
It’s a shame, because it’s a shoe nearly equal to the shoes that came before and after it. Leave it to Teddy Santis, Aimé Leon Dore founder, to make the shoe finally feel as special as it is. The two New York-inspired colorways released this year breathe new life into the shoe, and while the MTA-inspired blue and white pair is striking, it’s the ‘Beef and Broccoli’ brown and green pair that is the must-have, with a rich brown suede and hiking-shoe feel that is incredibly easy to style.
7. New Balance 990 MADE Series
It’s been 40 years since the 990v1 first debuted as the crown jewel in the New Balance line, and decades later, the 990, now approaching its sixth iteration set for release next year, is still perhaps the best sneaker in the world, a perfect match of performance and style. Through every iteration—1982 for the v1, 1997 for the v2, 2013 for the v3, 2016 for the v4 and 2019 for the v5 (with the 991, 992, and 993 coming in the 2000s and bridging the gap in both style and tech), the shoe has adapted to new styles and technologies, reflected their times and still stayed true to the New Balance spirit, especially in the signature gray colourway.
To celebrate, New Balance has spent the year releasing a ‘MADE’ edition of each version of the 990 up to the v4, each accented by a ruby-red tag and red hits on the tongue’s logo and staying true to the heritage grey color—each distinct and made with the materials of the original, made to the meticulous standard of the Made in the USA New Balance line that no other brand matches outside of the ultra-luxury space. It’s hard to pick a favorite of the four so far—it goes down to personal taste, so we’re putting the whole series on the list here. If you had to make us choose though, it would probably be that v4, with its unparalleled comfort.
6. New Balance xStray Rats Made in UK 991
Stray Rats finds a lot of its inspiration in faded pop culture nostalgia, always in the realm of the familiar while often straying just off the beaten path to tread to places that are bold and interesting. The brand is one of the most unique and fruitful to continue collaborating with new balance, bringing its signature brand identity favored by off-beat tastemakers such as Frank Ocean across apparel and footwear, most notably with its ‘Joker’ inspired 990v3 that has become its signature.
While each shoe might not have the kind of storytelling that we get from others, each has an unmistakable personality that do enough talking on their own, and of the two mecha-inspired ultra-premium Made in UK 991s released during the shoe’s 20th anniversary (the Anniversary pair, released earlier this year, nearly made this list), it is the grey/purple/green pair that stands out most, and is perhaps Stray Rats’ best shoe yet.
5. New Balance x Jjjjound 990v4 ‘Navy’
It’s been a killer year for the 990 series, made quite clear by how many times it appears on this list. As the line celebrated its 40th anniversary, the 990v3 got a ton of love, but leave it to Jjjjound to put its stamp on one of the most underrated shoes in the New Balance catalogue, the 990v4, the 2016-born sneaker which often gets lost in the transition to the 990v5, which took over as the flagship in 2019.
Jjjound released the two very best and most wearable 992s in recent years, so it’s no surprise that the brand was able to do something even more subtle and yet just as striking with the v4, highlighted by its dark blue premium suede that is black in certain lights and blue in others, like Batman’s cape in the old comic books. It’s quite simply the best v4 we’ve seen to date.
4. New Balance x Bodega 990v3 ‘Here to Stay’
Bodega has dropped a couple of great New Balances in recent years, but their 15th anniversary pair, and first Made in the USA, is a stone-cold classic, muted tones that still stand out, a warm hug of a shoe. Its unique character are clear enough in the colors selected—no, these aren’t just browns, they are ‘kangaroo’ and ‘caribou’, familiar but distant from anything you’ve seen on a sneaker before.
The blues, dark and light, counterbalance brilliantly, making it a shoe you won’t feel off wearing with your best fit, while also feeling like a shoe you could wear every day, rain or shine, and still would look good or even better months or years later, a testament to why exactly this became a ‘dad’ shoe in the first place.
3. New Balance x Joe Freshgoods 990v3
Joe Freshgoods, Chicago’s own Joseph Robinson if you check his passport, like a shoe that tells a story.
“Stories first,” he said in an interview with Complex. “Then y’all can get the product.”
Joe’s latest collaboration with New Balance, a 990v3 called “Outside Clothes”, tells a few stories. First, it’s his sophomore album, in his own words, taking on the pressure of following the massively popular and nearly impossible to get “No Emotions Are Emotions” 992, which only released with around 800 pairs worldwide, with something equally different and eye-catching.
“Outside Clothes” is also the story of something he connects with personally, nature, a shoe leathers and suedes in tans and browns to represent the earth, with a mesh upper adorned in light blue to represent the sky, and accents of green to highlight the sky. The sole, too, weave together these three colours. The inspiration of the outdoors is even more clear on the insole, with JFG for NB Outside Clothes written on a blue sky with clouds and a butterfly soaring through the words.
Like Salehe’s 2002R, it captures an energy in the way the best shoes do, a shoe that’s both subtle and stands out.
2. New Balance Salehe Bembury 2002R ‘Water Be The Guide’
It’s no secret that we’re fans of Salehe Bembury over here at Esquire Middle East, and with good reason: the man is one of the most singular designers in footwear, with shoes that communicate a lot—stories, innovative ideas, and overall vibes. To wear a Bembury shoe on your feet is to feel transported a bit into his world, and it’s a nice place to live.
As much as we enjoyed the bold take on the 574 (that should honestly be considered its own silhouette) that included the first whistle ever to appear on a sneaker, it’s this 2002R Water Be The Guide that we keep lacing up, with its aqua on hairy suede, a lighter aqua on leather and plastic beneath it, a hit of bright green on the midsole and framing the iconic N, which itself is in a darker shade of green, as well as the brown splattered on the midsole that comes with a hike through the Arizona wild. It’s all accompanied with a mesh that has the pink accent of the desert sand, and a warm mid-toned brown leather on the tongue. It makes us feel like we’re gazing down at the same landscape in the American southwest that inspired Salehe to make it, and it’s got an energy all its own.
It’s been a great year for the once-unheralded silhouette, which managed to work its way to the top of our list on a shoe that is not even a collab…
1. New Balance 2002R ‘Protection Pack’
It’s rare that a non-collab graces the top of a list, but it’s rare that a general release sneaker has this much personality, this much storytelling, and elevates a silhouette so transformatively. The 2002R ‘Protection Pack’ as it’s been dubbed, or the ‘Refined Future’ as it’s intended to be called, was designed by 30-year-old New Balance employee Yue Wu, who grew up in China before moving to the United States, who was walking the streets of Boston when he saw old folks wearing beat up old New Balances that were near the end of their life but still holding together strong.
He applied the idea to the 2002R, a shoe that originally debuted as the 2002 in the early part of the millennium that was priced at $250, reintroduced in the early 2010s with an 860v2 sole unit for $100 less. The exposed foam, multi-toned suedes that are cut to look as if they were worn off over the years, and an aged look unlike any applied before. The Phantom and Sea Salt colourways are nice, but it’s the Rain Cloud that stands out best, a twist on the classic New Balance grey that is one of the best ever in that colourway—and that’s saying a lot.
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Main photo: Rami Afifi for Esquire Middle East