Brand: atmos x New Balance
Model: M2002RAN
Release Date: July 15
Price: $160 USD
Buy: atmos USA
Editor’s Notes: New Balance’s 2002R is arguably the New Balance sneaker of the moment. Sure, you have the 550, the 610, and, of course, the 990, but the 2002R just hits different.
The “Protection Pack” has played a pivotal role in the rise of the New Balance 2002R no doubt, but so too have collaborations, most notably with the likes of The Basement and GANNI, both of which sold out in a blink.
So with a solid mainline and collaborations aplenty, what could possibly make the New Balance 2002R an even better shoe? Answer: a New Balance 2002R from the future is what.
Yup, you heard correct, sneaker geeks! Japanese label atmos has teamed up with New Balance to release the M2002RAN Cybernetics Blue, a bespoke take on the 2002R silhouette centered around the theme of the cyber world and the future.
Traditionally in the cyber world, the color blue is said to be an expression of the possibilities and the worldview of the future that human technology will lead.
So, in this vein, the atmos x New Balance take adorns a striking blue (similar to the atmos branding) that sits alongside classic NB grey, reflective 3M taping, and the 2002R’s epochal pebbled leather tongue.
Obviously we know these aren't actually from the future but merely a narrative created to sell a sneaker, but if any silhouette was going to be travelling back in time to grace the feet of sneaker lovers in 2023, it's the 2002R (or anything 3D-printed, of course).
NB isn’t short of hyped silhouettes nowadays and its 2002R is a testament to that. A silhouette based and designed on the future, though? That’s another realm completely.
