New Balance 9060 Blue Agate

Cool blue works best against neutrals rather than other blues. Recipe one: grey trousers with a white tee and a navy cap, where the shoe sits comfortably in a cool palette without matching anything exactly. Recipe two: cream or stone wide leg trousers with a black tee, a higher contrast look where the blue becomes the accent. Avoid mid blue denim, which competes directly. Keep hems short enough to show the sole geometry. Blue suede fades in strong sun and spots in rain, so store it out of direct light, brush the nap weekly, and treat the pair with a protector before the first wear rather than after the first mark.

Everything culturally interesting about New Balance rests on a fit first foundation. The Trackster of 1960 was the first running shoe offered in varying widths, spreading through YMCA fitness programmes and college cross country teams at MIT, Tufts and Boston University, and the brand still sells widths where competitors sell only length. That is why its shoes were bought by people who cared about comfort rather than image, which is how the 990 became the archetypal American dad shoe, and why normcore could later reclaim the whole catalogue as a design position. A sculptural blue sneaker is the modern end of a line that began with orthopaedic supports.

Mesh and suede layer across the upper in banded blue tones, lighter panels lifting the midfoot while darker sections weight the base and heel, which is what stops a shoe with this much volume looking like a single mass. ABZORB does the impact work, New Balance's proprietary foam and rubber polymer blend developed to disperse heel strike before it travels into the knees and hips, which is the practical reason a heavy looking shoe stays comfortable on long days. Multiple width fittings are the brand's oldest technical promise, carried over from the arch support business it started as, and on a wide silhouette they matter for lockdown rather than for length. Blue suede shows water marks clearly, so seal it early.