New Balance 1000 review

The 1000 deserves a spot among your New Balance favorite pairs if:

• You're looking for a comfortable and trendy pair to wear all day every day!
• You're a retro lover and you want sneakers with a Y2K vibe.
• You want a shoe with soft and protective cushioning because you're on your feet for hours.
• Lifestyle shoes with a lightweight and breathable structure yet padded interiors are your cup of tea.

If you're looking for a pair of daily beaters that will take the rough with the smooth next to you, this ain't it. The 1000 is not a durable pair, as we found it scored underwhelming results on our Dremel tests. As an alternative with a very similar vibe, we believe you may like the New Balance 2002R, which is more resistant but still lightweight!

Then, if you want a more affordable pair that has the same retro look, the New Balance 530 might be exactly what you need! It comes in a variety of colorways, so you'll definitely find one that matches your vibe.

The incredible comfort we got from this New Balance pair comes, partly, from its thick and soft midsole.

Our caliper had to open up quite a lot to tell us this shoe's heel stack goes all the way up to 36.5 mm, which is a solid 18% higher than average!

During our wear tests, we were shielded from the harsh urban surfaces, any pebbles, and other minor obstacles we ran into.

When we say we were shielded from the ground, we don't mean exclusively on the heel! Our forefoot also felt protected by a 25.2 mm thick midsole, which is 25% taller than average.

This felt wonderful, as the comfort we enjoyed underfoot went from the heel to the toes; and it lasted all day!

As you can see in the picture below, there's a big difference in height between the ball of the foot and the heel.

After measuring both, we ended up with a drop of 11.0 mm, which is pretty much average. This just means your heel will be slightly higher than your toes, but nothing that will make your feet feel weird!

As the brand says, the combination of polyurethane and ABZORB midsole, with ABZORB cushioning at the heel, translates into a really comfortable and soft underfoot structure that our feet enjoyed for hours!

When we measured the 1000's midsole softness, our caliper returned 18.5 HA. And that's exactly how it felt: softer than average!

The best part is that, thanks to the Stability Web, we never felt our feet were sinking way too much into the shoe. This also helped us a lot when we had to spend all day walking, as our feet didn't need to make that extra effort to go back up (which is something that can happen with overly soft foams without a supportive structure).

New Balance has always been the queen of insoles.

In this case, it decided to keep things simple and go for a 4.6 mm thick piece. It added some extra points to the overall comfort levels of this shoe, so we can't complain!

Do not let the chunky and retro vibe of this shoe trick you!

When we measured the toebox width at the widest part, our caliper returned 97.5 mm. This is slightly narrower than average, and even though our standard-width feet were fine with it, we believe wide-foot sneakerheads might just not find it as comfy.

Our caliper returned 78.3 mm when we measured this shoe's toebox width at the big toe!

Which was... a positive surprise, honestly. It's not like our toes felt cramped or anything like that, but the design on the shoe kind of made us think it would be narrower. We're so happy to say it isn't, though!

Another great surprise was finding out that our toes also had plenty of vertical space. In other words, thanks to the design of this New Balance's toebox, they could move freely in any direction!

The NB 1000 felt pretty stable on foot!

As you can see in the video, our ankles didn't wobble much. The quality materials of this shoe made sure we felt supported laterally even if we had been walking all day long.

Once we took this shoe to our lab, we could explain the safety we felt during our wear tests as soon as we performed our torsional rigidity test.

As you can see, our thumbs had to work hard to bend the 1000. Its chunky midsole didn't want to be twisted! After our experience on foot and on hand, we decided to give it a 4/5 on our torsional rigidity test.

Its double heel counter followed the same path, as it earned another 4/5 on our stiffness test.

As you can see, our thumb had to push pretty hard to make it bow. We really liked this design, as it offered us support and out-of-the-box comfort: one of the best duos one can get in a shoe!

More great news was on its way, as our caliper marked 111.9 mm when we measured this shoe's midsole width in the forefoot.

Apart from being wider than average, this figure also explains the wonderful stability we felt underfoot. You know, the wider the landing base, the more stable your feet will feel!

And this New Balance is the perfect example.

We're really happy to say the heel follows up with another wider-than-average score!

Our caliper returned 90.4 mm, which means our heels had plenty of space to reposition themselves after every step.

Despite its high torsional rigidity, this shoe bent alongside our feet easily during our wear tests. This is because torsional longitudinal flexibility are two different concepts!

We only needed 18.9N of force to bend this New Balance all the way up to 90 degrees, which is way less than average! This translated into an easy ride, as the 1000 bent comfortably alongside our feet.

The buffed-up look of this shoe might have made you think it was going to be heavy, but nope!

Our scale returned 13.2oz/373.0g when we took it to our lab, which is a solid 5% lighter than average. This might not sound like much to you, but it was really meaningful to our feet! We could walk for hours without them getting too tired, as the structured and soft design of this pair, added to its lightweight nature, felt incredible from sunrise to sunset.

The 1000's upper is made using suede and mesh, and we trust the latter to let the air get in and out of the shoe easily!

Our light test looked promising, as the mesh areas let the LED shine with no issues. Let's see if our smoke machine confirms our hypothesis!

Absolutely! What a wonderful display of breathability! Just look at all the smoke flowing out of the shoe. How could we ever give this New Balance any other score than a 5/5? To make our decision even easier, the poor Reebok Phase Court became a leather oven.

Thanks to our microscope, we could see the small gaps of the blue mesh that this pretty colorway features.

Even though we can see multiple layers, all of them let the air come in and out easily!

To verify if the material of a shoe is authentic, we burn it using our torch and scratch it mercilessly with our awl.

As you can see, we didn't have to face a massive flame, and the material didn't end up like a super chewed chewing gum! In other words: it's authentic!

So, good looks and good quality, right New Balance?

We always place our Dremel on the very same spot, which helps us comparing the scores of different pairs.

Unfortunately, it was the mesh area the one that had to deal with the tool. And, consequently... the results were painful to see! We couldn't give this big mess anything higher than a 1/5, which is literally the worst score possible.

Hole-y cow! (Get it? Because it ended up with a hole!).

Sadly, things didn't get much better in the heel... They didn't get worse either, but just because that's not possible!

Another disaster! Trust us when we tell you we just wanted to close our eyes and forget these 2 durability tests even existed. With a landslide victory, our Dremel showed no mercy once again.

That's what a 1/5 on our heel padding durability test looks like. Oof!

To measure a shoe's outsole hardness, we need to press our durometer against it.

It returned 81.3 HC, which is slightly lower than average. This means the rubber is on the softer side, but not so much for us to be worried about its durability!

Our Dremel had one last chance to get a hat trick. With 3.2N of force but this time at 10K RPM, we drilled this New Balance's outsole non-stop for 22 seconds.

And the results were not so bad! Our tread gauge returned 0.9 mm when we measured the depth of the dent, which is slightly lower than average. We were really happy about this, as it meant we could wear this shoe for hours and hours without being too worried about its outsole fading away!

Apart from being durable, this pair's outsole is also almost as thick as the average.

At 5.0 mm, we believe New Balance was spot-on with this piece. It adds up some extra points to the overall lifespan of the shoe, and it doesn't put on any unnecessary weight.

The 1000 provided us with a solid ride regarding stability and grip.

First things first, this shoe has an outsole design that we really, really liked. Not only because of its fair rubber coverage (which also didn't make this pair heavy on foot), but also because of the multiple strategic flex grooves it features.

We have mentioned it before, but the NB 1000 includes a plastic piece in the midfoot, right between the forefoot and the heel outsole, which is called Stability Web. As its own name indicates, this detail adds non-intrusive stability to the ride, which is something we always appreciate!

Now, going back to the traction! To sum it up: we found it great. This shoe bit the floor consistently and effortlessly.

After thoroughly analyzing this shoe inside and outside our lab, we can say we do believe it's worth the price. The NB 1000 is neither on the cheaper nor on the more expensive side of New Balance pairs, as it comfortably sits in the middle as an all-day option with a very trendy and stylish vibe. It's made using high-quality materials, and our feet knew that as soon as we stepped in.

Nevertheless, if you're looking for something similar but more affordable, the New Balance 530 is a great alternative.

New Balance is a big fan of small reflective details, and we absolutely love it!

We didn't even know it was possible to make this shoe more comfortable, but its tongue had it clear.

When we measured its padding, our caliper returned 10.5 mm, which means it's thicker than average. But this didn't really catch us by surprise, as this shoe's interiors are quite padded in general; especially the heel!

So we were pretty happy about this extra comfort without jeopardizing the 1000's breathability levels. But, even though we're not talking about a heavy shoe, we believe the brand could've gone for a thinner tongue to save up some weight.

The New Balance 1000 doesn't feature a heel tab, but thanks to its non-gusseted tongue we didn't feel like we needed one.

As expected from this brand, the 1000 features a removable insole.

We really appreciate this, as it means we can change it if we want or need to.