There’s only one way to make New Balance’s MT10 sneaker, a product of the brand’s “Minimus” barefoot running line, even more minimal. The sole unit is already stripped to bare bones to create a more seamless connection with the ground, so it’s the upper that must be streamlined. New Balance Tokyo Design Studio concurs. 

An experimental design team that periodically recreates New Balance sneakers with a discernibly stylish touch, New Balance Tokyo Design Studio has taken the MT10 sneaker to wonderfully sleek new lows.

On Tokyo Design Studio’s shoe, a paper-thin grippy sole unit is the only remnant of the original MT10’s trail-running past. Atop it, there is a hairy suede upper with soft nubuck leather trim holding a drawstring lace system in place (yes, Tokyo Design Studio simplified the shoe so much that it even removed the laces). 

Almost every aspect of the MT10’s sporty facade is gone, replaced by materials more befitting of a casual shoe. It’s not quite a formal hybrid like a sneaker-loafer, although Tokyo Design Studio says it was inspired by more traditional forms like moccasins and ballet flats. 

After debuting this summer in a sober duo of all-black or all-cream, the spruced-up barefoot trail shoe is releasing in slightly less muted options of earthy brown and midnight blue. Both colorways drop on November 14 via New Balance’s European site, though they are yet to make their way stateside. 

In the face of a widespread slimming-down of sneakers, New Balance’s barefoot range has recently drawn the attention of fashionable collaborators like District Vision and Junya Watanabe. However, for all their tinkering and polishing, nothing is as tastefully modest as the Tokyo Design Studio MT10T. 

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