You can follow our live coverage of the New York City Marathon on race day on our homepage, (or right here) starting at 8:00 a.m. EDT Sunday morning (about 30 minutes before the race start time).
When New Balance took over as the brand sponsor of the New York City Marathon back in 2017, it did so with a big splash. And over the past seven years, the Boston-based brand hasn’t let off the gas one bit. This year’s event featured perhaps the most variety and sheer volume of apparel, accessories, nicknacks and shoes ever on offer at a marathon expo.
And runners responded.
The lineup to enter the expo at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Midtown was massive. Credit to the organizers for structuring the flow of entrants, as the sea of thousands of consumers seemingly came and went without anyone having to wait more than a few minutes at a time.
Runners were funnelled through the race packet pickup area, and then into the New Balance expo shop. The company also sponsors the London Marathon, but New York felt significantly bigger, with far more variations, prints and colorways for everything from socks to toques.
We’ve now covered all the World Marathon Majors this year, and New Balance’s presence on the expo floor dwarfed even Nike’s substantial offering in Chicago.
Let’s take a look at what was up for grabs, what sold out, and what stood out.
Printed Cotton Tee Capsule
New Balance’s bespoke and highly inventive cotton printed tees have been a staple of the expo since 2017. In past years, the company printed shirts on site, allowing runner to mix and match looks and colours. But that tended to create long lineups that in turn built up a massive log-jam at the center of the expo shop. This year, New Balance opted to pre-print 12 different looks, which the company elegantly displayed in a tall column at the center of the shop.
Which print sold the best? The New York Times-style crossword design sold out in just a couple of hours on Friday.
The Marathon Finisher’s Jacket
Of course, it would be a World Marathon Major without the official finisher’s jacket. There were four variations on the official jacket this year, with the turquoise and navy blue version as the flagship version. By late afternoon on Friday, all but the extra large sizes appeared to have sold out, and many runners were wearing them on the streets throughout the weekend.
Techincal Running Apparel
Of course, there was plenty of proper sweat-wicking technical gear on the floor, in a variety of colours and styles. Like Nike did with Chicago, New Balance created a couple of different New York-themed race singlets. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the brand’s elite athletes running in the gear on Sunday, much as Ruth Chepngetich did a month ago in Chicago, setting the world record in the same kit that was on offer at the expo. Now that’s smart marketing.
Totes (!), Gloves, Packs and Hats
The tote is a very New York thing. So of course New Balance produced an official canvas race bag, replete with a “TCS New York City Marathon” logo on the side, so you can be sure that everyone in the grocery store will one day know that you’ve run the biggest race in the world.
The brand also continued its tradition of producing “five borough” themed gloves, with each major neighborhoood represented by a finger (Manhattan, of course, is the thumb). New Balance also cranked out a few different running hats, checking off the trifecta of design options: the five-panel Supreme/Ciele version, the vented trucker with a retro print, and the straight-down-the-middle technical ball hat. NB also produced a few “finisher’s” toque styles, which might come in handy on race day.
NYC-Themed Running Shoes
New Balance kept its shoe game tight for New York, offering the just-updated 1080 everyday trainer along with its super shoe, the FuelCell SuperComp Elite v4. There is nothing inherently new or different about these two shoes from their non-NYC branded counterparts. The key differences being their unique colorway, and “New York” printed along the New Balance “N” logo.
