New Balance Just Built a Gray Dad Shoe For the Future

Forget living in the moment. New Balance is straight up living in 3026. Mindfulness? We don't know her.

Now, for a brand so heavily grounded in the elderly charm of aged dad shoes, talk of the future might sound a bit out of place.

But if anyone should be designing the dad shoe of the 30th century, it's New Balance. Even 1,000 years in the fictitious future, NB still manages to stay true to its fatherly roots with the ABZORB 2000S sneaker, a techy dad shoe that looks like it just made its way back from the future.

Released in 2025, the ABZORB 2000S is one of New Balance's youngest dad shoes, hence its comparatively progressive and experimental design.

That is to say, the ABZORB 2000S looks nothing like your typical New Balance dead shoe. It's not your standard soft-toned U2010 or a simple muted 740, two sneakers that rely quite heavily on aughts-era charm to achieve optimal dad shoe status.

The ABZORB 2000S, on the other hand, abandons patriarchal tradition through its speckled leather upper and minimalistic branding. In lieu of the standard "N" logo at the midfoot, the ABZORB 2000S wears a smaller "N" logo near the front. At the bottom, the sneaker sits on top of NB's ABZORB SBS pods that bolster the sneaker's futuristic, space-age aura.

There's really no way to gauge what the year 3000 will look like, but if this shoe is any indicator, your great, great, great grandkids will have quite the dad shoe selection.

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