New Balance

William J. Riley founded the New Balance Arch Support Company in the Boston area in 1906, and it sold flexible arch supports long before it made a sneaker. The modern brand dates from 1972, when Jim Davis bought the company and kept building shoes in New England through the running boom, a decision that still defines the label. Our coverage centers on the 990. It went on sale in 1982 at $100, in grey suede and mesh with a heel stabilizer called the Motion Control Device, and it has run through six versions since, with the 995 to 999 and later the 991 to 993 filling the gaps. Washington, D.C. made it a street shoe in the 1980s and 1990s, and Steve Jobs made it a dad shoe. Then the collaborators arrived. Comme des Garçons sent the 990 down a Paris runway in 2018, JJJJound and Stüssy did their own versions, and Aimé Leon Dore revived the 827 and rebuilt the 550, a 1989 basketball flop, from used pairs and old sketches. In April 2021 New Balance named Teddy Santis creative director of its MADE in USA line, and his muted colorways made the 990 look expensive. The price has climbed a long way since 1982. The color is still grey.