New Balance ABZORB 1890 Nordic Green: The US Drop That Never Came

New Balance built the ABZORB 1890 out of two archive parts and priced it at the top of a brand new line. The Nordic Green colorway, style code U18907BP, reached overseas retailers on July 1 and was widely reported for a July 9 release in the United States. That second date never arrived. Two months on, New Balance’s own ABZORB collection page still lists Nordic Green as coming soon, while European shops have already moved the shoe to clearance.

The 1890 is not a retro, which is the first thing to get straight about it. New Balance launched the model globally on March 12, 2026 at $180 and £160, and the brand’s own press release describes it as a deliberate parts build. The upper carries a no sew wave cutout pattern over exposed mesh, paying homage to the original design of the 890v3, and it sits on the original 2002 sole unit with full length SBS ABZORB underneath.

Lead designer James Lee framed the brief as restraint rather than reinvention, saying that work on archival models is mostly about refining existing elements without losing what made them special in the first place. He also mentioned running in the 890v3 himself when it was on the market. That parentage is worth stating plainly, because at least one European retailer has been selling the 1890 as a 990v3 and 2002R hybrid, which is a different pair of parents entirely. New Balance wrote down 890v3 upper and 2002 sole, so the brand’s version is the one to use.

One more naming point, since it costs people money. The official model name is ABZORB 1890, not 1890. New Balance sells a separate shoe under the plain 1890 name, style code U18907NG, and the two are easy to confuse at checkout.

Nordic Green is officially Nordic Green with Wakame with Outfield, and the greens carry the whole shoe. The mesh base reads darker than the overlays, the wave cutouts break the panel up so the upper never turns into one block of color, and the sole unit stays neutral underneath it.

The lacing is where this colorway gets interesting and where the published record thins out. Kith lists a speed lacing system with a toggle. Sivasdescalzo lists a cord lock lacing system. Both are describing a closure New Balance does not describe at all, because the brand’s own spec sheets for every other 1890 style code say traditional lace up closure. An earlier version of this post treated the toggle as the headline fact. Retailer listed and not brand confirmed is the honest description. A closure change is a construction change rather than a color change, and construction changes on a lifestyle runner usually arrive with a press note. This one did not.

The more useful story is that the ABZORB line is already soft. New Balance’s own ABZORB collection page currently carries five style codes marked down by as much as 41 percent. Starcow in Paris has Nordic Green at 119 euros, cut 30 percent from 170, with a nearly complete size run still sitting there. Noirfonce sold through at full price. Europe got an entire retail lifecycle out of a shoe the United States never received, and the American page has been saying coming soon since summer.

For a line New Balance launched in March and stacked five models deep by July, that is a fast turn. ABZORB was built to give the brand a lifestyle platform that is not the 990 family. What it has produced so far is a set of shoes that discount quickly in one market and do not arrive in another.

New Balance put the ABZORB 1890 at $180 and £160 at launch, and the brand’s own product page lists $179.99. Inside the line that is the top of the standard tier. The 5030 is $119.99, the ABZORB 2010 is $144.99, the ABZORB 2000 is $169.99, and only the apron upper 1890A sits higher at $199.99. Anything above $180 on a boutique site is an import markup rather than retail, which covers Kith at $190, Slam Jam at $193 and sivasdescalzo at $240. There is no resale market to speak of, which is the normal outcome for a shoe clearing at 30 percent off.

Nordic Green arrived at overseas retailers on July 1 under style code U18907BP, in Nordic Green, Wakame and Outfield, at $180 in the United States and £160 in the United Kingdom. The July 9 American date came from sneaker outlets rather than from New Balance, and no American product page for the colorway has gone live since. Dover Street Market has it at £160, Slam Jam has it at $193, and Starcow Paris has it at 119 euros on markdown. The rest of the model sits on the 1890 hub, the Linen colorway covers the quieter end of the same run, and the brand’s other releases are in the New Balance archive.

Source: Justfreshkicks

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The Sneakers Team

The Sneakers Team is the editorial desk behind becausesneakers, founded and edited by Nick Engvall. Nick has spent more than two decades in the sneaker industry. He built the original Eastbay Blog, led the first dedicated sneaker team at Complex, ran the first UGC and seeding programs at Finish Line, was employee number nine at StockX, and served as Senior Director at Stadium Goods. He hosts the Sneaker History podcast, and his first book, Small Luxuries: Sneakers, arrives in October 2026 from Motorbooks. Release details on this site are checked against the brand's own product information before publication, and anything we cannot confirm is labelled rather than stated.

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