I just bought a pair of New Balance running shoes. Model 1080v5. Direct from New Balance in Australia.
Well, that was a waste of $220.
** This post was written in a hurry, in anger. Since then I have re-checked the old and new shoes. See below for more analysis. But the anger and waste are still the same.
Why did I buy running shoes online ? Over the last few years I've tried various brands of running shoe. Tested the shoes. Confirmed the best shoes. Found a pair that is "just right".
New Balance 1080v3 -- size US 10, width 2E -- good shoes. Tested in training, in a half marathon and in a marathon -- very comfortable. The shape is right, the size is right.
So I went to the internet to buy a new pair... a replacement pair... the same shoes, only new.
I bought New Balance -- same brand.
I selected the same model -- 1080. The version had changed, from v3 to v5. Can't help that, v5 is the current model. Model v3 is no longer available.
Or should I say... v3 is no longer available in Australia. The New Balance company have banned my previous supplier from selling into Australia. Still, I thought, I'm buying direct from New Balance Australia... what could go wrong ?!
I've ordered this year's version of the shoes which fit perfectly. Even the width is the same: 2E.
So I ordered a pair of shoes of the current version of the same model and of exactly the same size.
The shoes arrive -- and are a size too large.
It took me a while to realise what was wrong. I mean, I checked the size label and it is correct: 1080, US 10, 2E. The shoes just did not feel right.
New shoes, I thought. Just settling in, I thought. Need to adjust the laces, I thought. Until I went back to the old shoes and compared, directly, old to new.
The new shoes -- clearly identified as being the same size as the old -- are at least one size larger.
No wonder the new shoes slip on my feet. No wonder my ankle aches from ill-fitting shoes.
What a load of rubbish ! A company -- New Balance -- which makes running shoes. And which cannot even make shoes of a consistent size. (** See extra analysis below.)
New Balance running shoes bought online. Rubbish.
So it's back to the local running shop. Hope they are still allowed to stock New Balance. Hope they are able to order in a pair that fit.
I will need to try before I buy... Despite the clearly indicated size on the shoe label.
Meanwhile, I've just wasted $220 by ordering direct from the manufacturer.
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** Extra analysis:
I went back to the shoes, both old and new. Compared them: side by side, on and off my feet. It turns out that they may, in fact, be "the same size". They are just a completely different fit.
1. The "old" shoes (v3) have strips of firm plastic from the toe up to the lace and from the mid-sole up to the lace. This adds bracing to the shoe. The "new" shoes (v5) have strips of thin paint -- no bracing at all. So when I lace the new shoes, they pull together in a different way, with much more flexing of the material.
The old shoes lace tightly like a shoe. The new shoes lace like a pair of soft slippers. This changes the way in which the shoe grips the foot. Of itself this is neither good nor bad. Just cheaper manufacturing.
As I run, shoes and feet warm up, get damp, change their size relationship. Ten minutes into a run and I will adjust -- always tighten -- the shoes, to fit. The new shoes -- made of softer material -- need to be tightened more than the old. Does the new material stretch ? There's no plastic strip to provide bracing. Certainly, once I am running, I am not able to tighten the new shoes enough to firmly grip my foot.
2. Most of the foot slippage in the new shoes is around the ankle. The new, v5 shoes have noticeably less padding around the ankle. (More saving of manufacturing cost ? ) So it doesn't matter how large the shoe is on the outside -- the v5 shoe is *larger* on the *inside*.
The v3 and v5 shoes seem to be the same distance across at the ankle -- on the outside. The v5 shoe has less internal ankle padding -- so internally, the shoe is about two millimetres wider. No wonder my heel slips up and down !
Perhaps some fool in design said, It's okay, the shoes are the same size on the outside. Unfortunately... a foot must fit on the *inside* of the shoe.
Being cheap with the internal padding means that my new v5 size 10/2E shoes are too large for my v3 size 10/2E feet.
New Balance have redesigned their 1080 shoes and changed the effective size for the same claimed shoe size. It seems that I've just wasted $220 because some fool in design decided to save money on bracing and internal padding.
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"If he had a mind, there was something on it." PG Wodehouse, of a troubled Pongo Twistleton
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Problems ? Solved
Problems ? Solved
