Matt Varga There’s an unofficial sense of “settling into the catalog” that we get with any silhouette around the one-year-mark. If chalking off that point could ever have a concrete checkpoint, for New Balance, we’d posit that it’s once a given sneaker starts trotting out the special make-ups (SMUs), a category between collab and general release that means certain colorways can only be attained via specific retailer partners.
The retrofuturistic New Balance 2000 drums up one of its own at long last, spread across a “Faded Blue/Blue Bird” and “Timberwolf/Double Bubble” two-pack coming in short order. While it’s easy to spot the same throwback, sportstyle that tinted the debut “Baby Blue” on the former, it’s the latter that stakes out a new path. Coated in cream tones in its upper and focusing rosy pink in the ABZORB pods themselves, it’s a far more delicate overhaul than we’ve seen to date, strongly contrasting the aggressive hardware that’s helped the 2000 catch on in the first place.
The New Balance 2000 in both “Faded Blue/Blue Bird” and “Timberwolf/Double Bubble” release on February 16th, retailing for $170.
