Even when dabbling in dark-sided iterations, New Balance still finds a way to shine.

In collaboration with Montreal-based lifestyle brand JJJJound, NB is darkening up its dad-shoe cache with a glossy new inductee that balances 2000s-era steez with modern touches through glossy contrast paneling, crisp white laces, and subtle JJJJound branding throughout.

On the whole, New Balance has more than mastered both controlled classics and multidimensional expansions.

In one breath, NB will give us another gray 990 dad shoe, and in the next it'll drop a brand new silhouette so experimental in its disposition it looks like it should still be in somebody's lab.

Given this established range that expands from the simplest of sneakers to the peak of footwear innovation, it makes sense that the father of all dad shoes is blending ingenuity with longevity.

On the one hand, sure, this is just another black dad shoe. Simple enough and nothing out of New Balance's established wheelhouse.

Conversely, the glossy accents add a level of tangible modernization that sets JJJJound's 1890 apart from all the admittedly stunning New Balance dad shoes. It's the best of both worlds, and said worlds just so happen to comprise the totality of the New Balance universe. In that sense, this shoe is literally charmed by the cosmos.

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