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- Upper
- Suede
- Released
- 2022
- Colourway
- Grey Purple
- Cushioning
- Abzorb
New Balance 2002R Protection Pack - Grey Purple
New Balance 2002R Protection Pack - Grey Purple
- Upper
- Suede
- Released
- 2022
- Colourway
- Grey Purple
- Cushioning
- Abzorb
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Culture Note™
Released on 28 September 2022 and part of New Balance's 2002R line. This release has a suede upper in Light Arctic Grey/Purple. New Balance built the 2002 as a top tier runner in the years when its technical shoes were engineered with the same care as the 99x line, and the 2002R is that shoe rebuilt for pavement rather than mileage. Grey Purple starts from the house grey that made the brand famous, the plain suburban running colour that normcore and then high fashion reclaimed as a design position, then runs a purple through the mesh, the lining and the block N so the shoe stops reading as neutral. The Protection Pack treatment gives the upper a stripped, weathered character instead of a showroom finish. That suits a company whose cultural life has been mostly accidental, and whose fit and support logic goes back to the arch support business of 1906.
Wear it with straight leg grey or ecru denim and a washed purple or plum knit so the accent reads as intentional rather than random, socks pulled up, hem breaking on the laces. For a colder version go head to toe grey, a wool overshirt and charcoal trousers, and let the purple be the only chromatic event in the outfit. This is a walking shoe, not a training shoe, so treat it as your long day option for travel, market runs and standing around. Order the width that matches your foot rather than sizing up. Brush the suede dry with a soft crepe block, keep it away from monsoon puddles because mesh and suede both drink water, and let it air dry away from direct heat.
The grey New Balance runner is the most quietly loaded object in the brand's cupboard. The 990 family became the archetypal American dad shoe, worn for comfort rather than status, and Steve Jobs is a documented wearer of the 990, as are Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Hilary Duff. That plainness was exactly what the 2010s reclaimed, and the 2002R inherits the reclaimed version rather than the original. The Protection Pack sits at the fashion end of that trade, where the archive is treated as a design language and a purple accent is a deliberate break with the greige consensus. New Balance formalised this posture when it made Aime Leon Dore founder Teddy Santis creative director of Made in USA in April 2021.
The upper layers engineered mesh with suede and synthetic overlays, the standard 2002R recipe, with grey carrying the structure and purple picked out through panels and branding. Underfoot New Balance uses ABZORB, its proprietary foam and rubber polymer blend, which disperses heel strike impact before it travels up into the knees and hips. ABZORB is lighter and plusher than ENCAP and less structurally supportive, so this rides soft rather than locked down, which is why the 2002R works for a day of walking and not for a tempo run. A segmented rubber outsole handles flex and grip. New Balance's oldest technical promise, multiple width fittings inherited from the arch support company, means you should size to your actual foot width rather than buying length to make room.
- Upper
- Suede
- Released
- 2022
- Colourway
- Grey Purple
- Cushioning
- Abzorb
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