The weekend leading up to Berlin’s biggest running day, the Highsnobiety Store on Unter den Linden was taken over by New Balance, transforming into a clubhouse for sneakers, community, and culture. At the center of it all was Action Bronson, who touched down in the city to celebrate the release of the Baklava x New Balance 992 Made in USA “Tiger Eye.”
The 992 “Tiger Eye” refuses to play in a single lane—equal parts lifestyle staple and spiritual talisman. Built from warm, earthy tones and rugged detailing that feels as much about protection as it does about style, the shoe carries Bronson’s fingerprints in its brutalist aesthetic and esoteric worldview. The collaboration extended beyond footwear, arriving alongside new Baklava apparel and slotting neatly into Bronson’s ongoing project of turning life into mythology: existing on the astral plane, channeling crystals, worshipping frogs, and finding coherence in a lived philosophy.
Throughout the weekend, New Balance activated the Highsnobiety Store with experiences that brought together the brand’s global running community. Friday night opened with an intimate family-style dinner inside the store, built around reimagined comfort-food dishes designed for sharing. Saturday morning saw Action Bronson and athlete Mikey Kratzer lead a 5km shakeout run through the city, followed by a sign-making station where friends and family could prepare banners for race day.
DJs set the tone on both Saturday and Sunday, while Sunday also introduced the FuelCell Challenge, inviting participants to step into New Balance’s fastest models—the Rebel—to see if they could hold the average marathon pace for thirty seconds. The day wrapped with a recovery zone of music, snacks, and space to rest before the big race.
As Berlin geared up for thousands of runners from around the world, we caught up with Bronson at the Highsnobiety Store to talk about the collaboration, the role of mysticism in his creative process, and why he still believes the 992 is the truest New Balance of them all.
Henry Levinson: How do you get hyped for big races like this?
Action Bronson: For athleticism, for athletics, I’m always ready to go. Just like before—we’re doing push-ups, they gave me an electric bike that didn’t have any electricity. So I was riding a thousand-pound bike. I was doing more work than the runners.
HL: What does the tiger eye mean to you?
AB: I’m a very spiritual man with all kinds of crystals in my pockets at all times. So the tiger’s eye, it’s just one that I use to speak to the heavens.
HL: When you’re making a shoe, what considerations do you have in mind, and how did you incorporate them into this collaboration?
AB: Well, it’s more of a lifestyle shoe. That shoe ain’t for running. I don’t want you running in those. You need to run in some running shoes. Those are chill shoes. You could run in them—you need good comfort. For me, I don’t like to be bouncing all over the place. I like a good, stable, like ’80s, ’90s-style shoe. These modern-style shoes, they throw me all over the place. I don’t really like it.
So at the end of the day, the technology within the shoe is out of my control. That’s all New Balance’s technology—it’s phenomenal tech. I just work on the aesthetic and the overall, making it better than it was before.
HL: How did the 992 become the right silhouette for this collaberation?
AB: The 992 is a classic sneaker. In my world, it’s one of the first New Balance shoes I ever put on my feet 25 years ago. So it’s near and dear to me. All the collaborations that I do, they’ve all been manifested from being a fan first. I’m an avid New Balance supporter.
HL: Where do the images of protection, meditation, and nature come from in your work?
AB: As I said before, I’ve smoked a lot of DMT and I’ve seen the puma and I’ve seen the leopards and the panthers and stuff like that that have spoken to me in the jungle. My wife is a shaman, an Indigenous Colombian shaman. So I know how to behave.
HL: How does this sneaker reflect where you are in your life right now?
AB: I think it’s rugged brutalism with a touch of solar flair. I’m a brutalist at heart with an aesthetic for the jungle and for living things and creatures like spiders, frogs.
HL: Tigers perhaps?
AB: Well if you cut a tiger’s arm, you can’t rub that blood and then get psychedelic.
HL: So just frogs?
AB: Yeah, just the frog. That’s why I worship it.
HL: You worship the frog?
AB: I worship a frog—named Jerry.
HL: Who’s Jerry?
AB: It’s a frog. I can’t tell you more.
HL: What do you want people to feel when they’re wearing their own Tiger Eyes?
AB: I just want you to feel like yourself. I want you to feel like you could conquer the world, like you’re walking on air—literally and figuratively.
HL: When you’re designing a sneaker, how does that compare to making music or cooking?
AB: I think that these are all relative. I love the process. I just like going through something to get to the end product. And for me, it’s a big coloring book. This is just a coloring book. Bottom line.
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