From Track to Street: How New Balance Became the Number 1 Sneaker Brand

As we continue to fill up our sneaker collection with high-heat pairs just about daily, people in this day and age tend to overlook the stories behind the silhouettes and their colourways. How did this or that pair become so hyped up? What's so special about the design and structure? Their history is always worth their weight in gold. And for Boston footwear label New Balance, its growing fame in the fashion-forward world we live in first began in the 1900s, long before fan-favourite lifestyle models such as the New Balance 550, New Balance 992, New Balance 327, and several others existed.

What used to be a core choice in athletic footwear has now turned into the ultimate shoedrobe staple. From track to street, this is how New Balance became the number one sneaker brand of all time!

Just like every brand, there is a mastermind pulling all the strings. Back in 1906, an English immigrant named William J. Riley founded the New Balance Arch Support Company in Boston, Massachusetts after being bizarrely inspired by chickens in his backyard as to how they're able to stand on their feet with only three support points. He applied this form of "new balance" to his design in order to provide the best comfort to shoes.

Riley then hired a man called Arthur Hall as a salesperson for the company as their products were not permitted to be sold in retailers back then. Hall then continued to sell arch support products to keyworkers up until 1936.

Riley and Hall introduced the first New Balance model in 1938 and was designed specially for a local running club. The construction was crafted with kangaroo leather that was housed by a crepe rubber sole unit.

By 1941, there were a couple of additions to the New Balance team and not only that, the company also started to manufacture more shoes for other forms of sports.

As time passed, Arthur Hall's daughter Eleanor began to take interest in the company. She eventually took ownership of it with her husband Paul Kidd in 1956 and opened the first official retail store. The married couple did maintain their focus on Riley's original concept but also worked on the New Balance Trackster which they then launched in 1960 and became the first shoe available in diverse width sizing to cater for the needs of athletes.

The New Balance Trackster yielded positive results, although it still wasn't the icon Eleanor and Paul expected it to be. But in 1972, on the day of the Boston Marathon, present-day chairman Jim Davis acquired the company and ushered the footwear label to success. This was also the same period the company introduced specific numbers to each model in order to identify which type of shoe it is, its purpose of development, and many other factors such as speed and ability.

In 1976, New Balance debuted the New Balance 550 model and was the first-ever NB trainers to possess the familiar "N" logo across the sidewalls. It exploded in sales after being featured on Runner's World Magazine as the number one running shoe on the market.

Just before the '80s, New Balance released performance running clothing to accompany their footwear line. New Balance clothing arrived at retailers, with some crafted from durable Gore-Tex lining to deliver the best comfort and durability with every stride.

New Balance's 620 silhouette joined the family in 1980 as a lightweight running shoe and was the most expensive pair at the time – retailing at approximately £30 – considered a price steal these days.

Two years later, New Balance established their first UK factory store in Flimby, a small settlement in the county of Cumbria. Not only that, but this was also the same year the now-famous dad-core New Balance 990 came to life.

More designs began to emerge up until 1998, with both US and UK factory producing their made-in-US and made-in-UK iterations respectively that we all know and love. The New Balance 574 was a part of this period, specifically in 1988, then followed by the reissued 550 basketball trainers in 1989, the New Balance 1500 in 1993, the New Balance M1400 in 1994, and finally, the New Balance 576 in 1988.

In the 2000s, fashion trends became a thing. Some have recently made a comeback such as baggy jeans, varsity jackets, and all sorts, while many others stayed in the past with no apparent signs of resurging.

In 1991, the New Balance 991 was unveiled then followed by the New Balance 992 in 2006 - both new instalments from the brand's 99x series became fashionable after being famously worn by late Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Their classic "Grey" colourway has become synonymous with the vast majority of the imprint's high-end offerings, including the New Balance 574 and its revamped version, the New Balance 57/40.

During that same period, New Balance secures their first-ever collaboration, joining forces with UK-based sneaker retailer Offspring to take on the New Balance M1400 as their canvas. By 2009, collaborations were more frequent, even celebrity endorsements became typical.

The 2010s and 2020s were decades of tremendous changes. Fashion became casual, Instagram was launched, Internet culture defined the generation's trends entirely from normcore, VSCO girls, all the way to the rise of social media influencers flaunting gifted pieces for promotion.

After New Balance welcomed its first UK flagship store to the masses in 2016 at Oxford Street, London, more retail spaces began to pop up not only in England but also across the globe.

Sneakerheads are no longer strangers to the stream of collaborations New Balance have been rolling out. Some of the most covetable releases include the JJJJound x New Balance 992, Paperboy Paris x New Balance 992, Casablanca x New Balance 327, BAPE x New Balance 2002R, the list just goes on.

Furthermore, Aimé Leon Dore's Teddy Santis, who revived the P550 Basketball Oxford trainers in 2020, has now been appointed as creative director of the New Balance Made in USA brand. And not long ago, he also unveiled the forthcoming New Balance 990v6 model. If that's not enough to surprise you, KITH's Ronnie Fieg, Boston-based sneaker boutique Bodega and Chicago-based artist Joe Freshgoods Robinson, are all scheduled to revitalise the archived New Balance 990v3.

All in all, there's no questioning that New Balance's popularity is still on the rise with no signs of slowing down - partnering with the right names in the industry has certainly played a massive role in its ever-increasing demand. If you still haven't got a pair of New Balances in your collection, then take this as a sign to cop today as there sure are a lot of grail-worthy New Balance releases out there.