The 860v2 is one of my favorite New Balance silhouettes, so the fact that I’m such a big fan of its size?’s new 860v2 exclusive will come as no major surprise.

New Balance’s 860v2 is a nice shoe to look at. But despite bearing all the hallmarks of an early nineties running shoe, the 860’s initial launch was as recent as 2011 as a performance-inspired lifestyle sneaker. Although at the time it went largely under the radar.

It wasn’t until just over a decade later that NB eventually revived the meshy dad shoe, now titled 860v2, by way of a few mainline colorways, before hyped collaborations with the likes of Aimé Leon Dore and Dime put the sneaker firmly on the map.

For all the excellent New Balance 860v2s, though, (and believe me there have been a lot of them), its new size? exclusive is by far and away its best looking version yet.

Arriving in a pleasingly neutral pinky brown colorways, New Balance’s latest 860v2, shared to Instagram by size? on February 22, retains everything I love about the shoe.

It still has the super-breathable meshy upper, the kinda retro-looking “N” logo on the side, and the Y2K-esque N-Ergy outsole.

I’m not saying size?’s New Balance 860v2 is going to reinvent the wheel when it comes to sneakers. What I am saying is that these sneakers are proof that a shoe doesn’t have to be a part of a collaboration to be nice. Mainline is very good, too.