The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 266 — 🏀 New Balance hoops is on a run

A conversation with the GM of New Balance basketball, Trent Casper

Jan 23, 2023

Goooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thank you so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate you!

Hope you had a fantastic weekend. I roasted some marshmallows and watched my Eagles whoop the Giants. I’m not the biggest football fan anymore, but it was glorious. Highly recommend it.

Let’s jump in. Got a great conversation to share with y’all today.

New Balance basketball is off to a fast start in 2023

New Balance Basketball is off to a fast start in 2023 so far.

The Rundown:

The brand brought Tyrese Maxey on as the newest athlete addition to their roster.
It also debuted the Fresh Foam BB — a new inline model. More on that in a second.
Zach LaVine debuted the Fresh Foam in Paris on Wednesday during the NBA’s global game, which also happened to be during Paris Fashion Week.

There’s still plenty more to come this year from New Balance’s hoops division, which has become one of the more interesting stories in the sneaker world.

Here’s why: Between 2015 and 2018 Puma, Under Armour and New Balance all climbed into the basketball footwear space. Puma and New Balancer were returning. Under Armour was starting anew behind Steph Curry’s rise.

While trying to make way in an area dominated by Nike and Adidas, all of these brands have used different strategies to make their mark. Over the years, I’ve tried to break them down on this platform and others. But now, we’ve got the perspective of someone who is in it.

I spoke with New Balance’s GM of sneakers, Trent Casper. Casper spent 23 years at Nike before moving over to New Balance and becoming the head of its basketball division.

We talked about the new Fresh Foam BB, New Balance’s inline models and what’s coming next. What follows is that conversation. Enjoy!

Talkin’ Fresh Foam BB and future with Trent Casper

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A post shared by New Balance Basketball (@newbalancehoops)

Sykes: What makes the Fresh Foam BB different from the other hoop models New Balance has? How is it different from like the Two Wxy or Omn1, for example?

Trent Casper: The Two Wxy and the Omn1 you mentioned as well as the Kawhi were all made with a Fuel Cell platform. That’s a more responsive underfoot platform — a little bit lower to the ground. On the Fresh Foam side of things — which we’ve actually had for a long time — that’s a more plush, cushioned ride.

The idea around this was ‘How do we keep the athlete fresh for four quarters?’ This was more about comfort as opposed to that responsiveness underfoot or propulsion underfoot. You get that nice, plush comfortable feeling under the foot.

Sykes: I enjoyed the Kawhi, personally, because of how bouncy it felt for cutting on court. How do you keep the responsiveness while providing a bit more cushioning?

TC: What you’ll also see is this EVA cage on the lateral side [of the Fresh Foam] integrated into the tooling. That cage is there to provide lateral support for the athlete while still keeping that soft underfoot feel.

When we build these shoes they’re for elite athletes — the Zach LaVines of the world. What the Fresh Foam does is just give you a softer underfoot experience.

Sykes: There’s so much competition in basketball footwear today. It’s been a few years since New Balance entered the fray with Kawhi Leonard. How would you describe the progress the brand has made so far?

TC: We call Kawhi the Godfather of New Balance because he kicked it all off. We were lucky enough that he hit the shot in the Omn1s. That was the best case scenario for us. We took that from there and started to grow the business a little bit.

You start to throw some other athletes into the mix — a Darius Bazley, a Jamal Murray. When I came in a few years ago, we had two models. We had the Kawhi and the Two Wxy. They were at $160 and $140. For me, I came in and said ‘OK, I love the $160. But I think we need to have something in that kill zone for the true basketball consumer, which is that $120, $125 price point.

Sykes: That’s a sweet spot.

TC: So, when I came in, Kawhi was off and running and we were telling some great stories. And, as you know, storytelling is what it’s all about in basketball and in the sneaker game. So we start aligning all these athletes with these different models. Jamal Murray with the Two Wxy, Zach LaVine to the Fresh Foam BB. And you can start telling stories through the lens of these athletes.

So, for me, it was about bringing the Two Wxy down to being an ‘everyman’ shoe where every kid wants to ball in it. And then keeping the Kawhi at that pinnacle innovative level. And then we brought the Fresh Foam in. So, you’ve got responsive on one side [of the brand] and cushioning on the other side. You kind of have two styles of play with athletes tethered to those models. So, for us, that was the perfect lineup.

Sykes: You all have athletes that could legitimately have signature shoes. They all play in big markets for these good teams. But you’ve instead paired athletes with more GR, inline models. Why is that the strategy that works for you?

TC: I spent 23 years at Nike and Jordan before moving over to New Balance, and getting a signature shoe is a really special thing. I feel like athletes have to earn that — that’s the deal.

You don’t want every athlete to have a signature shoe because you want these GR shoes to have stories to tell and have athlete faces to them. The consumer is like ‘I love Jamal Murray and he wears the Two Wxy, so I’m going to get the Two Wxy.’ And we’re telling stories through the lens of their favorite player, so maybe they get 3 colors instead of 1. And that’s kind of the thought process for us now.

Sykes: That also works from a pricing standpoint, doesn’t it? Once you attach an athlete’s name to a shoe from a signature perspective, doesn’t that make the shoe more expensive?

TC: It definitely does. And it’s not only that, but, say, if you’re a Jamal [Murray] fan, that’s great. But if the Two Wxy was his signature shoe, there are also people who might not like Jamal. So they might not want to go into that signature shoe that Jamal is the face of. When you have a broader set of athletes, that makes the sales better because it’s not tethered to one story.

Also, when you go signature, that means innovation. And price points go higher along with that storytelling. Then, all of a sudden, all of your shoes are $200, $180, $160. And, for us, that’s not where we want to be. We want to be in the zone with the consumers actually playing ball in these shoes.

Sykes: This year is already off to a fast start, so what’s next for New Balance Basketball?

TC: We love the fact that with the Fresh Foam BB, kicking off the new year with a new shoe and a new athlete was exciting to us. And we’re off to a good start with the Global Games. Next up is the Kawhi III, which will come out in a February time frame. That’s at $160. It’s led through the lens of Kawhi Leonard, and we can’t wait to get it to the market.

We’ll add a couple of new models, which we’re really excited about. All consumer-driven — all through the lens of the feedback that we’re getting from the consumers and our athletes. We’ll come in with something more in the entry-level zone that we’re excited about as well.

I’ll leave it there. I think we need to let the Fresh Foam BB be the focal point and then the Kawhi here in a few weeks. We’re not going to bombard the consumer with tons of New Balance shoes. We’re going to do it in a strategic way to give the consumers things they need and solve for the athlete to make them better.

Sykes: Can we expect to see the Kawhi III on court anytime soon?

TC: You’ll see the Kawhi III on court in the month of February.

2023 will be the year for the “others”

StockX released its annual “Big Facts” market report with data reviewing its last year as well as forward-thinking predictions. Turns out that the non-Nike, non-Adidas brands are eating on the resale market.

By the numbers:

Salomon, for example, saw a 2,227% growth in trading on the platform, making it the fastest growing brand on StockX.
Hoka came in second with a 713% rate, which is massive.
North Face saw a 338% jump behind luxury brand Rick Owens, coming in at 522%.
Puma had the 5th largest growth rate at 326%, which was a bit surprising for a more established brand.

Be smart: No one was reselling Salomon or Hoka before 2022 because there wasn’t much interest there. That’s how you get these massive figures. It doesn’t mean that these brands are driving aftermarket platforms — just that there’s now a new interest in them. And that interest will continue to grow in 2023.

The big picture: Nike, Jordan, Adidas, Converse and New Balance were still the most highly traded brands on the platform. That probably won’t change this year.

But watch out — there are more of the others coming on strong. We’re seeing the consumer diversify their collection outside of the main brands we know and, ultimately, that’s a good thing. The more competition the better.

That Bad Bunny Campus 80 is TORCH

Man. I don’t know if it’s because Bad Bunny himself is wearing them here and he just makes everything look fly. But, yo. These Bad Bunny x Adidas Campus 80 joints? They are HARD.