Official Review: New Balance Fresh Foam X 1080 Running Shoes

[JimKirk]

Official Review: New Balance Fresh Foam X 1080 Running Shoes

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[MadMax]

Ha! I’m gettin’ a kick out of this (first) comment on U-A’s YT review on this shoe… 

Quote

Ty, can you guys there at Ump-Attire please tell the guys at New Balance to please stop making umpire shoes with mesh? We know it’s lightweight and very breathable but, when you wear mesh shoes on a dirt field? They are really hard to keep clean! 

So… 

First, Ump-Attire has little influence upon how a global manufacturer designs and produces a shoe, much less “tell them to stop making” their products a certain way you Peter Public don’t like. 

Second, didn’t your hear (or notice)? New Balance is out of the umpire shoe market. Sure, I’m speaking in superlatives, but since Nike took over the contract, forcing New Balance out, no one makes “umpire shoes” any more. There’s just no market for it, especially when any of the “base shoes” that Pro umpires wear are predominantly Jordans or Mizunos (now). New Balance has to look elsewhere to really make splashes in the market, and you know where their shoes can really be appreciated by officials? Lacrosse.

Third, as far as keeping them clean for baseball (or softball, to be fair) umpiring?  It doesn’t really matter any more. No one cares. We keep this overhyped value on these arbitrary details, and for what? 

In any case, I have these shoes, and really dig ‘em. I have 2 pairs of them! I don’t use them for officiating, since 1 pair is Voltage Yellow, and the other is Electric Blue, but I did seek out, try out, and ultimately purchase a pair of Brooks Glycerin 22s, and I love them. So many colleagues were going with Hokas, I wanted to try something different. They’re enormously comfortable.  

[umpstu]

16 hours ago, MadMax said:

Ha! I’m gettin’ a kick out of this (first) comment on U-A’s YT review on this shoe… 

So… 

First, Ump-Attire has little influence upon how a global manufacturer designs and produces a shoe, much less “tell them to stop making” their products a certain way you Peter Public don’t like. 

Second, didn’t your hear (or notice)? New Balance is out of the umpire shoe market. Sure, I’m speaking in superlatives, but since Nike took over the contract, forcing New Balance out, no one makes “umpire shoes” any more. There’s just no market for it, especially when any of the “base shoes” that Pro umpires wear are predominantly Jordans or Mizunos (now). New Balance has to look elsewhere to really make splashes in the market, and you know where their shoes can really be appreciated by officials? Lacrosse.

Third, as far as keeping them clean for baseball (or softball, to be fair) umpiring?  It doesn’t really matter any more. No one cares. We keep this overhyped value on these arbitrary details, and for what? 

In any case, I have these shoes, and really dig ‘em. I have 2 pairs of them! I don’t use them for officiating, since 1 pair is Voltage Yellow, and the other is Electric Blue, but I did seek out, try out, and ultimately purchase a pair of Brooks Glycerin 22s, and I love them. So many colleagues were going with Hokas, I wanted to try something different. They’re enormously comfortable.  

All of my walking shoes are Brooks. They are incredible to walk in. Glad I gave them a try a few years ago. Won't use any other brand.

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

Well, regardless...that poster is correct. Mesh shoes on a baseball field are sub-optimal.

~Dawg

[MadMax]

11 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

Mesh shoes on a baseball field are sub-optimal.

Nope. 

Pick any hill ya like, I’m staking my banner on this one. 
Keeping base shoes clean and polished is meritless, and any perseveration on it does not make or demonstrate you as a “better umpire”. 

You wanna show off your polished, bougie shoes? Go work on a “better field”. How do you get onto a better field? Develop the skills to work “better games” on “better fields”. Polishing yer puppies ain’t going to get ya there. Working more games (frequency) and becoming more resolute and definitive in your movements, positioning, and calling (consistency) is what gets you there. I’d rather see a “kid” have a good, comfortable, durable set of shoes that will serve him across the 4 games we’re going to have today, rather than sinking time and money into spiffing up a pair of “premium umpire” shoes, and foldin’ on me (as a mentor/trainer/developer) because his feet were too sore, too hot, or he didn’t have the “right shoes for the conditions”. 

Quit whining about mesh shoes. The industry not only doesn’t care about us, but they’ve already identified us as a dwindling market. Wanna change things? Grow a larger market (ie. present more umpires). 

Now, to go and order a headstone 🪦 for my here hill. 

Edit: And the same can be said for belts, belt buckles, or any other frivolities we keep parading out as meritorious “must-haves”.  🙄 🤨

[The Man in Blue]

Mesh shoes are the easiest to keep clean.  Throw them in the wash with your uniform, whether that is daily when your games are over or annually when you take your “navy” shirt out of your trunk for its annual pre-season wash.  “Had this shirt 32 years and it looks as fresh as the day I bought it from the local Elbeco dealer. Secret is not washing it so much.”

Now … white bottoms are the abomination.  (Though I did cave and get a pair of black and white Hokas for turf.  Even then, they gradually get dirty and I’ve not mastered cleaning the white bottoms yet.)

[SeeingEyeDog]

Mesh shoes suck...

~Dawg

[Ump Man Do]

Madmax, when you say NB is out of the umpire shoe business can you expand?  I do see their shoes on sale on a few sites.  Will they no longer be making their plate and base shoes?  Thanks.