New Balance released the brand-new Fresh Foam BB with a limited Paris colorway. From the name, we can see that New Balance brings another cushion technology. The shoe tongue is printed with ‘FRESHFOAM’. The main colorway is powderblue.
Appearance:
New Balance Fresh Foam BB also released several colorways. The colorway that I purchase is the theme of Star Game. The vamp is black, gray and silver. The sole is purple and orange color. The appearance is retro type. The hot-melting design on the position of shoelaces to shoe head is similar to 991 & 993.
Comfort Level:
The insole of Fresh Foam BB is Fresh Foam X material. Fresh Foam X is New Balance which uses 3D motion capture technology to collect impact data from athletes to create a material which can withstand impact on your feet. Laser cut pits on both sides increase cushion performance and reduce the weight. The thick Fresh Foam X insole is soft. Comparing with the Fuel Cell insole of Two WXY, the cushion performance of Fresh Foam X is better.
The vamp is made of FitWeave, and the shoe head and position of shoelaces are reinforced by hot-melting and glue. The FitWeave vamp is light and elastic, and the air permeability is good. The comfort level is not great as expecting. The hot-melting position is stiff. The padding of ankle position and shoe tongue is thin. After fastening the shoelaces, the ankle is a little uncomfortable. It needs time to break-in.
Protection:
New Balance Fresh Foam BB is middle type design. The FitWeave vamp offer good supporting performance. And the shoe heel has TPU plate to support ankle. The outboard Fresh Foam X shape is the same. The TPU plate strengthen the stability of insole. For the fitness, both sides of vamp oppress the foot. It needs time to break-in. If your foot is not wide, we suggest you to choose the standard size. But as the ankle position doesn’t have enough padding to improve the fitness, so it needs to fasten all of the shoelace’s holes well. The outboard sole has outrigger design. The inboard side also extends to outward to improve the stability of half-sole.
Comparing with TWO WXY series, Fresh Foam is thick. But as the Fresh Foam has good resilience, the feedback is not bad.
Durability:
The semi-transparent outsole uses gradually changing color. The outsole patterns is composed of an imperfect circle. The traction performance on outdoor court is not good enough. But after cleaning the dust of outsole, the traction performance of New Balance Fresh Foam BB is excellent. The pattern of outsole is rough and stiff, so the rub fastness should be good. After testing a few times, it doesn’t have obvious abrasion.
Overall:
The insole system is quite resilient. Although the insole is thick, but it still has some flexibility. If it can improve the traction performance, New Balance Fresh Foam BB will be a pair of nice basketball shoes.
Before Fresh Foam BB, New Balance only has Kawhi’s signature shoes and TWO WXY team shoes. Comparing with TWO WXY, Fresh Foam BB emphasize on the cushion performance.