The worst thing a sneaker brand can do sometimes is to take one of its best sneakers and think it needs a change. The Air Jordan 3 is just fine being the Air Jordan 3. The Air Force 1 doesn’t need a Lunar sole. The New Balance 997 never needed to become a 997H, whatever that was. The Air Jordan 1 never needed to be made in Flyknit. But once in a while, a brand is able to take one of its best sneakers, see it through a new lens, and, just maybe, make it better.
That’s where we’re at with the New Balance 991v2 right now. The shoe debuted in 2023, and I was quick to call it my personal favorite sneaker last year. The launch colorway, in grey with hits of turquoise Abzorb gel in midsole, was perfection for me. The 991v2 took the boxy bits of the 991, a sneaker from 2001, and stripped it of its clunkiness. The shoe got a new shape, a sleeker toebox. It’s more comfortable. It fits your foot better. The tongue isn’t puffy and doesn’t slide to the side. It’s lighter, but not a gutted, Roshe-fied version of one of the brand’s best shoes. They have their own identity.
What makes the shoe new, aside from its shape and Abzorb pods, is New Balance’s FuelCell technology encapsulated on the midsole. That’s the same tech we see used in the brand’s highest-performing running shoes. It gives the 991v2 a nice bounce on foot that’s counteracted by the traditional rubber that surrounds it.
According to New Balance’s website, “Since its original release in 2001, the 991 has been synonymous with superlative quality. As the first 99X model of the 21st century, the original 991 set the standard for modern running design. The Made in UK 991v2 represents a new pinnacle, with an evolved take on this genuine icon.”
The New Balance 991v2 ‘City Edition’ pack. Via New Balance
Let’s get it straight. There’s nothing wrong with the 991. The shoe has become a favorite in Europe, thanks to it currently being made in England at New Balance’s Flimby factory. But it’s also become a star of the collaboration scene, too, thanks to Aime Leon Dore, Palace, Patta, JJJound, Paperboy, Stray Rats.
Ask some people, and they’d say the 991 didn’t need an update. But the shoe was in good hands. Samuel Pearce, who works as a senior creative design manager for the brand’s Flimby factory, was in charge of bringing the 991v2 to life. Its first 99X series shoe “independently designed and built out of the UK,” according to Pearce. And he said in an interview with End Clothing from 2022 that figuring out how “domestic manufacturing in the UK can thrive” is why he joined New Balance in the first place.
The shoe was created as an exercise to further the brand’s UK manufacturing capabilities.
“The 991v2 is a flagship moment for Flimby and a statement of intent as we look towards the future of domestic manufacturing,” Pearce said of the shoe on Instagram in October 2023.
Although the 991v2 is born out of Flimby, it’s not a shoe that’s stayed on the shores of England. The shoe has crossed over to the US and beyond. There’s been a collaboration with Stone Island and a two-shoe project with Patta. And as of late, it looks that New Balance has plans to spread the 991v2 around the globe.
This week, the shoe was released in region-specific colorways at retailers around the world. There’s a blue pair for North America, yellow for Asia Pacific, green for Europe, pink for Japan, and red for China.
Salehe Bembury’s New Balance 991v2. Via Bembury
Those pairs are not the best 991v2s we’ve seen so far. I still give that to the original grey. It’s just impossible to beat, in my opinion. But they’re good. And they bring back the feeling of having a shoe that’s not just limited and hyped, but it’s a regional exclusive and you need to be plugged in to get.
There’s also a collaboration with Salehe Bembury on the 991v2 coming up that I think will shoot the shoe further into the stratosphere. It’s not his best shoe ever, but it does the job with purple suede, green lining. It’s good. And it will probably be the first time a lot of people will encounter this shoe. And that’s awesome to me.
That’s why New Balance’s current collaboration program is winning. They can take shoes from the past, such as 992 or 990v3, or new shoes like a 991v2 or 2002R, and give them to people with serious cultural cachet like Joe Freshgoods or Action Bronson and reinterpret them for a new audience that’s never seen them before. But it still satisfies the purists who want New Balance sneakers because of their history, shape and materials, or because they’re made in the US or the UK. It’s a perfect balancing act, never tipping the scales too far in one direction.
It’s not easy to make a shoe that’s a supposed upgrade on the 991 and get away with it. But somehow Pearce did.
“A legacy brief like the 991v2 comes with a heightened level of expectation and scrutiny, maybe more so given how close I am to the 99X line in my day to day work,” Pearce said at the top of the year. “I tried to capture the best of what the series means to me as a fan, a designer, and a historian.”
Very rarely do I genuinely get excited about a sneaker. But there was an overwhelming joy when I first saw the 991v2. And it only grew when I put it on my foot and it didn’t disappoint. I hope that others get to share the same feeling in the future, too. The shoe was truly born again.
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