It might seem like a post-social media development, but people have been running on fields, up mountains and through rivers long before the advent of Instagram. Let’s face it, trail running is the closest you can get to exercising like you were one of the first humans on planet earth – no roads, cars, or buildings – just you, the wilderness, and your shoes…
It doesn’t take a genius to tell you that footwear is the most vital part of any running ensemble, and arguably the only element that actually matters. High-quality lumps of foam are the key to an enjoyable trail running experience, and no one understands this better than New Balance…
Since its foundation in 1906, the brand has produced footwear for every running discipline imaginable, and for every condition imaginable. New Balance never seem to settle, and that’s probably why they’re now nine versions deep on their cult trail model, the Hierro.
The brand has worked alongside their trail athlete team to develop the new v9, taking on feedback from product workshops held with an incredibly scrupulous audience. The result is a shoe lighter than its predecessors, better ventilated, and wears its tech credentials lightly – no gimmicks, just pure, functional design. It’s a shoe designed for athletes in search of peak performance, but still functions for hobbyists after their Park Run PB.
The Hierro is the quintessential trail running companion; it’s lightweight, equipped with a massive Vibram sole, and looks mega. It’ll comfortably get you over any terrain, and do it at speed. It’s New Balance’s love letter to the trail, one they’ve been crafting for nearly a century.
To fully understand New Balance’s entanglement with running in its most unadulterated form, you’ve got to take yourself way back to the early days in 1906…
At the turn of the century, New Balance wasn’t as we know it today – the brand’s founder, William J Riley founded the company to make arch supports and prescription footwear to alleviate the pain working people endured by standing on their feet all day. The goal was to give customers greater comfort and a new balance.
The market for arch supports was niche, but New Balance instantly stood out amongst competitors. Their lightweight, flexible inserts quickly became synonymous with the blue-collar backbone of the U.S.
The brand would quietly work away incrementally improving and selling their arch supports until 1938, when they were approached by a local club of hardy track runners known as the Boston Brown Bag Harriers.
The boys from Boston wanted a specialist running shoe, and they wanted New Balance to make it. The brand agreed, and a few months later they kitted out the Harriers with a running shoe, comprised of leather, a crepe sole and spikes. It wasn’t much to look at, but this humble silhouette would launch New Balance firmly into the running footwear business.
Following the brand’s success in Boston, they would go on to flirt with a variety of sports, such as tennis, boxing and baseball, but it proved to be in 1961 that they would fully reignite their relationship with running…
1961 marked the release of the Trackster, an adapted version of New Balance’s original running shoe, and the first to be available in different width fittings. The brand designed it to make running accessible for the masses, and it did just that. Thanks to the innovative width fittings, it didn’t matter how wide your feet looked; everyone could comfortably fit into a pair of Tracksters, and soon enough, the shoe not just the track, but also the park and trail.
This revolutionary model marked New Balance’s first commercial win in the running world and opened the gates for them to produce a plethora of other cult track models.
But the brand’s time to step off the tarmac and onto the trail came in 1977, when they released the classic 355 – a piece of footwear that was solely about the sole. The model was visually striking, featuring a signature New Balance blue and yellow upper, which was then placed atop a chunky midsole and finished with a lugged Nora-Tuff outsole. The 355 was serious about traction, and for that reason, it didn’t take long to gain traction.
The model embodied ’70s trail running and was sported by all who took the discipline seriously.
The huge demand for the 355 by a new outdoor-crazed market inspired New Balance to look even higher than the trail, and into the hills, developing the iconic Rainier boot in 1982. Originally introduced as a lightweight hiking option, the Rainier stood out in contrast to the plethora of heavy hiking shoes on the market at the time.
By the nineties, the brand had done it all, successfully offering footwear for all trail, hiking and backpacking enthusiasts. But as we mentioned, New Balance never settles…
In 1998, inspired by customers continuing to repurpose track shoes for muddy trails & gravel paths, they’d release the 801, a legendary all-terrain running shoe. It signified a natural continuation of New Balance’s trail journey – the 801 was practical, chunky and unapologetically nineties.
The 801 quickly became a cult classic, worn by everyone from weekend fell runners to suburban dog walkers. Its trail-readiness made it dependable, its chunkiness made it iconic, and its unexpected style appeal laid the groundwork for what was to come: a lineage of trail shoes under the name, All Terrain.
With the introduction of the All Terrain line, it became obvious that New Balance was serious about trail running, the line stood not just as a sideline to their road and race offerings, but as a category deserving of dedicated design, research and care. Other members of the hallowed line included the 602, featuring hefty mudguards and reflective detailing, and the 475, reinventing the meaning of chunky midsole.
All Terrain is a line that consistently comes up on your favourite Instagram moodboard account. It was vastly ahead of its time and left a mark on running, styling and technology that will last for decades.
In the 2000s, though, the world of trail running shifted. People no longer wanted chunky, lugged soles and bright colours. In fact, they wanted nothing at all. The craze on trend was barefoot running, or getting as close as possible to.
Just as they had done time and time again, New Balance was ready to respond to the change and released their Minimus running line, the star of which was the MT10, an incredibly low-profile silhouette that showed its user what it felt like to run as nature intended – without the splinters, cuts and bruises.
It didn’t take long for the running world to shift priorities once more, and after a few years of barefoot mania, people were hungry for chunkier soles and bigger cushioning. New Balance’s answer was a new foam midsole crowned ‘Fresh Foam’, which featured for the first time on a shoe called the T980 in 2015.
But since 2016 it’s the Hierro series that has become the beating heart of New Balance’s trail range. The model arrived at a time when trail running was shifting from niche to necessity, and its combination of Fresh Foam cushioning, Vibram Megagrip sole, and a rugged-yet-refined aesthetic made it immediately popular.
The popularity wasn’t short-lived either. The Hierro is now in its ninth iteration, and shows just how far the brand has come. It’s still a soft-souled, trail companion, but has been updated with all the polish and refinement you’d expect from a brand over a century into its craft. Where the 801 would have had a fistful of Haribos for a pre-run snack, the Hierro settles for trail mix and a banana. Slightly more mature, but still irrefutably New Balance.
We’re not just saying this either, we’ve actually field tested the Hierro v9, and were palpably impressed with just about all of it – handling, weight, aesthetics – the lot.
Everything New Balance has learnt in its 119 years of existence has led up to this. The Trackster laid the foundations, the 355 was a brick of ambition, and All Terrain was an icon. The Hierro v9 is a spiritual successor to all that – leaner, smarter, more evolved – but still carrying that same intent: to take you off the beaten path and keep you there, comfortably, for miles.
So yes, trail running might feel like a new frontier, a modern escape from concrete chaos. But for New Balance, it’s been part of the journey all along. From leather, spikes and crepe soles, to bright reflective uppers & hefty midsoles, they’ve always had a foot in the wild. The Hierro v9 just happens to be the best-looking footprint they’ve left there yet.
The Hierro v9 is available to purchase from New Balance now.
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