New Balance Just Made Their ‘Fugliest’ Shoe Ever

There was a time not so long ago when wearing New Balance signalled you’d given up. The uniform of suburban dads mowing lawns in sagging jeans, NB shoes were the antithesis of cool. But then, somehow, they became cool again.

With the rise of normcore, ironic streetwear, and the growing appreciation for functional ugliness, New Balance pulled off a quiet revolution. Models like the 990v5, 2002R and 1906R weren’t just accepted by sneakerheads, they were worshipped.

Justin Bieber wore them. So did your barista with sleeve tattoos and a Le Labo scent cloud. They had done it. New Balance had transcended the lawn.

The idea, according to New Balance, was to fuse high-performance heritage with cutting-edge fashion. What they’ve created is a penny loafer smashed into a running shoe, forming an unholy Frankenstein’s monster of mesh, rubber and regret. Based on the beloved 1906 silhouette, the 1906L swaps sport for something sartorial. It features curvilinear overlays, open-holed mesh and ABZORB heel pods, but it’s shaped like something your private school economics teacher would wear to a student art show.

To be clear, the loafer itself is an icon. Born from Ivy League prep, adopted by Wall Street and eventually reinterpreted by Italian tailors and modern menswear brands. But this? This is neither heritage nor hype. Hideous-hype. It’s the kind of shoe worn by an inner-city lad who just discovered houseplants, shops exclusively at COS and thinks adding mesh to a loafer is boundary-pushing. He’s 29, wears a sling bag across his blazer and loves a kick-on.

It’s a shame, really. Just weeks ago, New Balance dropped the 1906A, a near-perfect sneaker. Streamlined, sporty and wearable with everything from track pants to tailoring, it cemented NB’s place as a legitimate force in the lifestyle sneaker game.

Then this happened.

The 1906L is trying to be many things. A dress shoe. A runner. A vibe. Instead, it’s a sartorial identity crisis — proof that not every idea needs to be manufactured.

We’re not saying New Balance has lost the plot. But if this is the future of smart-casual footwear, we’d rather take our chances in Crocs.