New Balance 327

About

The New Balance 327 is a lifestyle sneaker launched in 2020, designed by Charlotte Lee, a Manchester-based designer who joined New Balance in 2014. Drawing from the brand's 1970s running archive, Lee referenced three heritage models: the 1976 New Balance 320 — worn by Tom Fleming when he won the 1975 New York Marathon and the model that introduced the iconic N logo — the 355 trail runner whose circular lug outsole directly inspired the 327's tread pattern, and the 1977 Super Comp, source of the wedge midsole and studded rubber outsole. The result features a distinctive oversized asymmetric N logo, a fang-shaped toe tip, and an exaggerated sculpted midsole. The shoe debuted at Paris Fashion Week in January 2020 through a collaboration with French-Moroccan label Casablanca before a wider general release in May 2020 at a retail price of $100 USD. Lee described her goal as being inspired by the past in a very different way — not a retro reissue, but a fresh silhouette built on archival DNA. Kendall Jenner and Westside Gunn have been among its most visible admirers.