Last Help

Shoe lasts are the wood or plastic forms a New Balance shoe is constructed around; they provide a unique fit and size profile for women, men, and kids.

Combi-Lasted
Combi-lasted shoes employ slip lasting in the forefoot for enhanced flexibility and an insole board in the rear foot to control excess motion.

Strobel Lasted
Strobel lasted shoes are constructed with a thin material acting like a sock liner stretched along its perimeter. The construction provides an excellent blend of stability and flexibility.

Slip Lasted
Slip lasted shoes are constructed without an insole board. This provides the greatest flexibility and the lightest weight.

What Is Pronation?
It's the natural rolling of the foot when walking at any pace faster than mall walking. (When mall walking, one walks heel to toe at a very slow pace.) The way one actually walks is by hitting the outside of the heel and gently rolling in, pushing off your big toe on the inside. That natural roll is called pronating.

Overpronation vs. Underpronation
If you step on the outside, curl right in and wind up on the inside of your foot that's over-pronating. New Balance builds up the arch on specific models to force your foot out so as not to let your whole arch collapse too soon. Other people hit on the outside of their heel and stay on the outside of their foot as they walk like a duck almost that's called under-pronating or supinating.

How do you know what you are?
You can look at old shoes and see where the front of the shoe is worn. If the front of the shoe is worn on the outside then you're not rolling in. If the front of the shoe is all worn off by the middle then your rolling in too far too fast and you are over-pronating and walking on your arch. If you are hitting on the outside rolling in then you're walking properly which means you would choose a neutral shoe that wouldn't push you in and wouldn't push you out.

Which models are made specifically for over-pronators?
The Running 1122 is the best example of a shoe that pushes you out. The 1221, 856 and 587 have the GRAPHITE ROLLBAR® so they also have the effect of tilting you out, so those are shoes for over-pronators.

Neutral shoes such as the 991, 833 and even the 765 give arch support but doesn't really push you out. They are for neutral people or under-pronators.

Under-pronators should not wear choose made specifically for over-pronators, such as the running 1122, 1221 and 856.

How do I know if my heel width is narrow?
There really is no way to measure your heel. If you find through your life that your heel has been lifting in your shoes, it's likely you have a narrow heel.

Some women have really skinny heels and the heels lift right out of the shoes. They feel like they are constantly walking out of their shoe, every step they take. So a lot of women who wear narrows have a 4E foot but a 2A heel which is what SL-2 and RL-2 lasts are for, they have a narrow heel.

Another clue that you're a narrow is when you tie your shoes, the two sides are pulled all the way together. When you look at the laces if the laces are going forward and parallel that's perfect. If the laces are really very close together then the shoe is too wide and you should be ordering a narrower width shoe.