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The New Balance Fresh Foam X 880 v14 offers responsive and stable cushioning for consistent performance.
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The design is updated to give support over long distances, enhancing the running experience.
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Fresh Foam X midsole technology ensures a smooth gait, ideal for runners seeking comfort and reliability.
The 880s are one of New Balance’s most popular and long-lived models. That “v14” already suggests that this is the 14th iteration of a shoe that has always had stability, comfort and protection in its DNA.
Version 14 confirms the use of many of the solutions that have defined this model for several versions now, including the use of the Fresh Foam X foam along the entire length. Yet everything is updated and improved with comfort, lightness and protection in mind. Let’s look at it in detail.
Comfort and protection
The Fresh Foam X 880 has always been one of New Balance’s most comfortable offerings. This version further improves softness and cushioning by increasing midsole thickness and employing a new, lighter Fresh Foam X compound formulation. We often insist on the importance of the balance between different characteristics in defining how a shoe is perceived once you run in it. Weight, for example, is an absolute value but-although small-may affect the perception of the shoe relatively little. In short, weight can be absolute (what the scale gives you back) but mostly perceived. And in order to achieve perceived lightness, one must also balance responsiveness response with each other.
Working on the absolute weight of the midsole-that is, the component that proportionally weighs more-while not penalizing the overall dynamic behavior, means affecting the perceived weight.
To all this, the New Balance Fresh Foam X 880 v14 add the protection of more thickness, confirming it as one of the most suitable models for long-distance runners, but also for those who-perhaps less at a healthy weight-want to run carefree.
A new tread and a new dress, even if it is recycled
The tread has also been updated and now has a vertical design that increases its flexibility, improving the transition from heel to toe, and thus forefoot stability when pushing. Which, after all, is also very much accentuated by the profile of the front rocker (i.e., the curved design of the toe box, which raises it off the ground).
The engineered mesh upper has a particularly appreciable feature: it is made in collaboration with Repreve, a world leader in recycled performance fiber made from plastic bottles, making a contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of this New Balance model.
But there is one more outfit
The innovations, as we have seen, are very technical, but there are also aesthetic ones. In addition to the normally available colors, two more are being added – for men and women – designed for the Deejay Ten, for which New Balance has been the sponsor for years.
The 880 v14 is available from early February in New Balance flagship stores, at selected retailers, and in the New Balance store for 160 euros.