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New Balance 740: the workhorse nobody kept

Some archive models come back because everyone treasured them. The 740 comes back because nobody did: in the 2000s this was a weekday running shoe that got worn to pieces and then simply bought again. Barely any clean examples survive, and that is exactly what makes the reissue make sense. New Balance has proven in recent years that its archive holds usable shapes beneath the flagships too.

The style codes on this page tell their own story: they start with U740 and nearly all end in a 2. The U stands for unisex numbering, and that closing 2 gives away that this is the second version of the reissue, in titles the shoe is usually just called 740. It is the same kind of quiet code information that gives away the cushioning systems on the 530.

Look at the shoe up close and the 2000s handwriting is everywhere. The cushioning is called ABZORB and sits literally screwed onto the sidewall as an oval pill badge, the model number sits on the heel counter, and the N is a molded plastic application with printed edge lines. The overlays are no thick leather panels but flat planes full of thin parallel speed lines whipping around the shoe, the fine open mesh underneath keeps the whole thing light. The white midsole is visibly split into segments, with a contrasting outsole beneath.

In the current New Balance range the 740 is the streamlined option. The 530 is taller and rounder, the 1906 is the shining maximalist, and the 740 ducks under them: low, slim and calm, despite all those lines. Anyone who wants the Y2K runner silhouette without the volume lands here.

On this page you can see which versions of the New Balance 740 are running hottest right now according to the Hypescore, from what price they’re available, and how many shops have them in stock.