New Balance pursues lifestyle tennis with T500 shoes and Ganni collaboration

After a hiatus of nearly six years, New Balance has reintroduced a tennis sneaker to its lifestyle collection, with the T500 debuting in collaboration with Aimé Leon Dore, expanding into mainline styles, and now culminating with a collaboration with Ganni.

With tennis being a growing part of today’s style trends and a key part of New Balance’s performance culture, the brand expects the T500 to highlight these elements in its lifestyle lineup for a long time to come.

“This is a big goal for us to incorporate into the next New Balance icon,” says Lauren Fitzsimmons, global lifestyle marketing manager at New Balance. “We’re taking a tactical and strategic approach. Positioning is really important and will drive long-term success.”

New Balance’s positioning of the T500 as a premium lifestyle sneaker has more to do with its history in tennis than with the silhouette itself. A near-perfect replica of a 1982 tennis performance shoe, it’s a timeless, comfortable design, says Brian Lin, New Balance’s global vice president of lifestyle. “Even though it was released in 1982, it’s still got that sleek, sharp look that we’re known for,” he says. “We obviously loved the look and aesthetic, but we went through a lot of iterations to get the comfort just right. For us, it was important to stay as close as possible to the original, while also updating it to be comfortable.”

Lin says he found a pristine pair of 1980s shoes on eBay that fit his size. He liked the look and material, but after trying them on, he knew the brand needed to improve the fit. “They’re simple shoes, but we were trying to replicate all the shape and little details from the time,” Lin says. “It’s hard work to make something that looks simple.”

The comfort tweak came at the same time as embracing the premium materials of the original, so the T500 is stuffed with suede and leather, giving New Balance what Fitzsimmons calls a “luxury, thoughtful court shoe,” and creating an opportunity to highlight different materials and highlight classic designs in a range of colors and styles. “As a brand, we play with these materials better than anyone else. We see ourselves as the most premium sports brand in the world. We want to be the best we can be on every level,” says Lin.

His return to tennis with the T500 was largely driven by a response to a trend, a nod to the brand’s ongoing growth, and a desire for a low-profile silhouette in court style – and the T500 fit the bill perfectly.

According to Lin, the success of the New Balance 550, a remake of an archival basketball shoe, was one of the first lifestyle court shoe offerings from a brand known for both performance and lifestyle running. Once the 550 was a hit, it paved the way for more court lifestyle offerings. “The T500 has a timeless appeal,” Lin said. “It’s almost a classic New Balance, but it has a cup sole. For us, it’s great to continue that tradition, but the shoe is timeless, well made, and uses premium materials. It’s not a hype shoe, it’s a shoe that goes with any outfit.”

And since there are many similarities to the brand’s retro basketball styles, the T500 offers a fresh perspective: “Given the current situation and the market and what consumers are gravitating towards, it made sense to tap into our tennis archives,” Fitzsimmons says.

The brand’s performance tennis continues to grow, with New Balance launching a second signature shoe for American star Coco Gauff in August, joining the Boston-based brand’s popular on-court models. Having a lifestyle option in the sport “fits well with who we are as a brand,” Lin said. “We make sure we have a lifestyle element that complements what we’re doing in the performance space.”

Fitzsimmons says tennis is “trending right now” both on and off the court. “It’s important for us to have a holistic view of tennis equipment,” he says. “It makes sense to sell a shoe like the T500 alongside our flagship performance products. It just gives the consumer another option. It’s not just performance tennis, it’s lifestyle.”

New Balance will begin releasing the T500 in collaboration with Aimé Leon Dore in late 2023, followed by a “Quiet Please” campaign in early 2024 that ties into the mainline sneaker’s premium positioning and materials. Next up is a collaboration with Ganni, which will launch on September 20th, before leather versions and additional color and material makeups arrive in the future.

“It was important for us to get a different perspective,” Fitzsimmons says of collaborating with Gunny. “Obviously we have our own perspective, but bringing Gunny in and adding their perspective on how the T500 will come to market is another interesting twist.”

Ganni’s creative director, Ditte Refstrup, said it was no coincidence that Ganni chose the T500 when working with New Balance, not just because it’s a tennis shoe, but because of the “timeless appeal and versatility of the silhouette” that allows it to be styled for different moods, adding that its minimalist roots also make it suitable for everyday wear. With a Ganni twist, the shoe also works as a statement piece to contrast with dressier outfits. “Whether you pair it with a relaxed, sporty ensemble or to add contrast to a more polished suit look, the T500 offers freedom of styling,” Refstrup said. “It’s all about expressing individuality, which is at the core of both our brands.”

The Ganni x New Balance T500 launch will feature bold leopard print on the sneakers and “unexpected twists that bring new energy to the silhouette,” with a focus on high-quality materials, he said.

“The simplicity of the T500 allows for creative exploration, and its iconic status makes it a silhouette that resonates with both the past and the future,” says Reffstrup. “I think the silhouette and shoe have timeless appeal as a true evergreen.”

Working with collaborative partners is a process that helps New Balance give a fresh perspective on its products, while at the same time helping to draw a different audience to the brand and introduce new silhouettes to consumers.

Nearly six years without a tennis lifestyle model released (the last silhouette, the New Balance Court 300, was a fusion of traditional designs rather than a true archival model) meant that when it came time to bring it back, Lin says they had to love the shoe. “If we’re going to do this again, let’s do it right,” he says.

This means the T500 will remain a major focus for the next few years, and as the lifestyle offering continues to expand into 2025 and 2026, New Balance will likely add more court-inspired designs, even if no direct tennis archive pieces are brought back, ensuring the T500 remains at the pinnacle of both New Balance and lifestyle tennis sneakers.