New Balance's Big Baby Dad Shoe Sharpens up In Military Mode
As a duo, WTAPS and New Balance are undefeated. The military-inspired Japanese brand has yet to meet an NB dad shoe that it couldn't enhance with textural enrichments and tasteful colorways.
Traditionally, WTAPS takes on New Balance's retro-cool Made in USA dad shoes like the 990, 992, and 998. You know, the classics that’ve always defined New Balance. But now WTAPS is bringing its militant streetwear steez to a whole new silhouette.
WTAPS' latest muse is the relatively young New Balance ABZORB 2010. New Balance's cushioned sneaker made its debut in 2025 so, especially compared to the classic NB sneakers, the ABZORB 2010 is quite young. This is basically the baby of the dad shoe family.
But even though it's new to the scene, this latest ABZORB 2010 sneaker, available soon on the New Balance website, doesn't miss a beat thanks to WTAPS’ consistent approach to footwear design.
In fact, the WTAPS x New Balance ABZORB 2010 is, in a sense, the poster child for the military-meets-elderly-sneaker flow represented by this collaborative legacy. The upper is dressed in New Balance's signature gray mesh, topped with suede military green paneling throughout.
Although mostly muted, the sneaker adds a hint of spice with neon green embellishments at the outsole that yields a simple dad shoe made subtly better, the WTAPS way.
Since 2020, WTAPS and New Balance have dropped hit after hit, like the WTAPS 998 and the WTAPS 990v5, which have always sold out and occasionally gone on to command major resale prices.
But the New Balance ABZORB 2010 sneaker represents a new generation of NB's dad shoe lineage.
And with WTAPS' militaristic seal of approval, the ABZORB 2010 is already on its way to becoming a classic.
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