New Balance 5280 Project: A 4% Clone Or Something Different?

New Balance has a story to tell with their 5280 racing shoe, and that story heavily revolves around sponsored athlete Jenny Simpson. Something to pay attention to is how brands decide to showcase their entry into the Carbon plate racing shoe market. Lessons had to be learned from both Nike’s success centered around Eliud Kipchoge, building the mythos, and selling everyone on the idea of Kipchoge as the vessel to break the 2-hour barrier — where the Vaporfly 4% would be his conduit. Then everyone sat back and watched the Adidas Sub2 fail pretty handily trying to recreate the magic.

So what did we learn?

We now know you can’t try to out Nike Nike, but you can succeed by telling your own story and playing to your strengths. New Balance has a huge strength in World Champion Jenny Simpson and they are great at selling a narrative.

New Balance Fuel Cell 5280

The 5280 is going to be a great story for New Balance when it officially launches. It really set itself apart from the other Luxury racers by being designed specifically for milers. When you first slide them on it feels like any…