New Balance

New Balance is a running and lifestyle footwear brand discussed in E241｜跑鞋技术迭代史：马拉松跑进2小时，靠人还是靠鞋？ as both an older running-shoe reference point and one of the “four slow-running shoe” brands known for comfort, lasts, and width options. The episode also treats New Balance as a beneficiary of running-fashion demand and shelf space opened by Nike channel changes.

Eddy Lu on GOAT, Grub With Us, and Marketplace Friction adds New Balance through Eddy Lu’s GOAT market commentary. He says New Balance was experiencing more than 100% year-over-year growth on GOAT, making it part of the sneaker-fashion demand expansion that helped the marketplace.

Key Claims

• The source links New Balance’s consumer appeal to fit, comfort, and width choices rather than only top-end racing technology.
• Its growth is framed as part of a broader Performance Footwear Market where running shoes become lifestyle products.
• The brand must still respond to the racing-shoe arms race because carbon-plate and super-foam products shape consumer attention.
• The GOAT source adds resale-market evidence that New Balance demand was rising quickly among sneaker buyers.

Connections

• ASICS, Brooks, and Saucony — slow-running shoe peers in the source.
• Performance Footwear Market and Consumer Brand Moat — market and brand context.
• Running Shoe Technology — broader technical frame.
• GOAT, Marketplace Friction Reduction, and Performance Footwear Market — resale-market and footwear-demand context added by the Eddy Lu episode.