New Balance is introducing a number it has never used before. The 983 arrives October 1 at $159.99 in a colorway the brand lists as Shadow blue with zinc blue, style U9835DU, and it is a genuinely new lifestyle model rather than a retro or a remix. Coco Gauff wore it at the US Open on September 2, which is an unusual launch route for a chunky lifestyle runner and is almost certainly the point.
New Balance numbers work like a filing system, and the people who buy these shoes read them that way. A 990 tells you something about where a shoe was made and what it should cost. A 9060 tells you the brand took that vocabulary and rebuilt it for buyers who wanted the silhouette without the provenance. Every number carries a claim about lineage, and that is most of what separates one grey New Balance from another on a shelf. The 983 does not carry one. There is no 1983 running shoe underneath it to bring back, and New Balance is not pretending otherwise. Its own product copy calls the 983 a reimagination of 2000s performance running that draws on elements from classic New Balance models to create something wholly new. Read that carefully and it is the brand saying this is a composite, assembled from parts of things rather than descended from any one of them. becausesneakers has covered plenty of New Balance releases where the number does the arguing. This is a rare recent one where the number is a blank.
What sits under it is where the shoe earns attention. Three ABZORB pods are visible in a dual-density midsole, elliptical rather than round, spaced through the forefoot and heel, with the largest one exposed below a glossy heel counter. New Balance pairs them with what it calls waved form along the outsole and midsole, and the outsole itself is broken into separate rubber sections instead of running as one continuous slab. The upper is the familiar mesh and suede mix, deep blue and teal in this makeup, with a molded N logo on the saddle and rounded overlays running the length of the shoe. New Balance also publishes a weight, 404 grams or 14.3 ounces, though the product page does not say whether that figure covers one shoe or the pair. Read as a single shoe it would be a heavy lifestyle runner, which the silhouette would support. Either way, most brands do not publish a weight at all on a lifestyle model, and the fact that this one does says something about which side of the performance line New Balance still thinks it is standing on.
The launch route is the read. New Balance introduced a chunky lifestyle sneaker by putting it on a tennis player during the US Open, with Gauff headlining the global campaign alongside the rapper Aminé. Her line about it, that she likes pieces that are fashion-forward but still easy to wear, is campaign copy, and it is also an accurate description of what the 983 is for. That combination, an athlete who is arguably the biggest name the brand has and a shoe with no performance claim attached to her sport, is where New Balance has been operating for a while now. Sign athletes for credibility, then sell lifestyle product on the back of it. It has worked. The question the 983 asks is whether that credibility transfers to a number with nothing behind it, or whether New Balance buyers, who have spent a decade learning to read the digits, will notice that these ones do not mean anything yet.
On price, New Balance lists the 983 at $159.99, which most coverage rounds to $160. That puts it above the brand’s imported classics and below its Made in USA and Made in UK flagships, which is exactly where a new lifestyle number needs to land if it wants room to move in either direction later. Sneaker Bar Detroit reports a grey pair arriving the same day at the same price, though New Balance’s own site currently lists only the Shadow Blue makeup, so treat that second colorway as unconfirmed until it appears there.
The New Balance 983 in Shadow Blue with Zinc Blue releases October 1 at 10 a.m. Eastern on newbalance.com, style U9835DU, at $159.99, listed as unisex. New Balance has not published a retailer list beyond its own site, so that product page is the one confirmed place to buy it on day one. Foot Locker stocks the brand’s lifestyle line and is worth watching. For more on the cushioning, see our coverage of the ABZORB 2000S in Fennel Seed and the 1300 in Sea Salt.
Where To Buy
Affiliate links open each retailer’s live search, so they always resolve. We may earn a commission.
Find This Pair
- eBaySizes Available
Live retailer stock, refreshed hourly. Stock and prices change fast. Some links are affiliate links and we may earn a commission.
