New Balance Is Bringing Back The 475 Model This Fall

As we’ve seen with the New Balance 1000 all throughout this year, the Boston brand is constantly searching for new inspiration, even if it involves digging in their own archives. Next up in their own retro program is the New Balance 475, and we’re getting first looks at some of the general release colorways set to introduce the model this Fall.

The “GR” aspect of this news is an important distinction. Both AURALEE and Teddy Santis/ Aimé Leon Dore have already teased collaborative takes on the once-trail runner, but release dates are unclear for either of those shoes. Given that, it’s possible that the “Stoneware” and “Quarry Blue” editions featured here could serve as the silhouette’s new debut. The former is a trademark neutral delivery, while the latter showcases a more vibrant bend, pasting a navy overlay suede overlay in between light blue surrounding sections.

Speaking strategically, the New Balance 475’s original run came back in the 1980s, but its design was heavily referenced with the New Balance Trailbuster a few years back. That model’s lifespan was a challenged one to say the least, and despite a steady stream of collaborative deliveries, it was flipped and tinkered with heavily throughout its time on the shelf, tooled as a staid lifestyle shoe, then as a true trail proposition, then as a comfort-minded one with an injection of Fresh Foam tech. Relying on classical composition certainly reads as a more digestible strategy this time around, but we’ll have to wait and see how consumers take to this design some 6 years after the Trailbuster left the shelves.

The two New Balance 475 colorways featured here are currently listed for an August release in Europe & Asia. Whether that applies stateside remains unclear, but we can confirm that New Balance has a slew of additional colorways that’ll roll out throughout Fall/Winter ’24. For now, get a closer look at this “new” silhouette just ahead.

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