New Balance becomes official footwear sponsor of the 2013 runDisney race series

[dreamfinder]

I saw a few people wearing them around the parks and some (gasp!) wearing them dring the races.

I saw that as well. Mostly during the 5k. And my sister commented how many people she saw wearing them during the full. During the 1/2 and full I think I saw more of the Newtons with a similar color way, but I can't imagine ever wearing brand new shoes on a 13/26 mile run. Ludicrous.

 

[LindsayLoves]

I didn't buy them but I saw quite a few people wearing them as they are very eye catching. While waiting for Soarin' after the half I overheard a guy who was lucky enough to take part in the Run Disney meetup Thursday morning and he said that at their highest selling expo ever New Balance only sold 350 of the specially branded shoes and at this one they grossly underestimated how many people wanted them so they were overnighting an extra 1,000 pairs for Saturday that were mostly already sold.

Based on that I doubt they will have overstock left as they were apparently in high demand.

 

[SoupBone]

I didn't buy them but I saw quite a few people wearing them as they are very eye catching. While waiting for Soarin' after the half I overheard a guy who was lucky enough to take part in the Run Disney meetup Thursday morning and he said that at their highest selling expo ever New Balance only sold 350 of the specially branded shoes and at this one they grossly underestimated how many people wanted them so they were overnighting an extra 1,000 pairs for Saturday that were mostly already sold.

Based on that I doubt they will have overstock left as they were apparently in high demand.

So you're thinking there's no way this gets released for sale to the public via online sales?

 

[Ariel484]

So you're thinking there's no way this gets released for sale to the public via online sales?

Eventually, maybe...but I wouldn't be surprised if they kept them exclusive to the expos (similar to special race weekend merchandise, i.e. D&B bags, finisher shirts, etc.). If they keep them extra exclusive that just makes people want them more...

Personally I know I'll never get a pair unless I happen to switch to that kind of shoe for running (I currently run in, and am happy with, Brooks Adrenalines).

 

[Fievel]

I saw that as well. Mostly during the 5k. And my sister commented how many people she saw wearing them during the full. During the 1/2 and full I think I saw more of the Newtons with a similar color way, but I can't imagine ever wearing brand new shoes on a 13/26 mile run. Ludicrous.

I've worn Saucony Kinvaras for the first time to a race. Twice in fact. I had no problems, but those shoes almost have nothing to them anyway, so they are a little different.

 

[LindsayLoves]

So you're thinking there's no way this gets released for sale to the public via online sales?

On the rundisney blog or twitter they said they were bringing 350 pairs to the Tinkerbell expo and word has it that people were lined up hours before the expo opening for those shoes. When they mean limited edition I think they are taking that seriously in order to get people to go to the expos.

 

[dreamfinder]

Did anyone actually see the MSRP for the shoes? I can't imagine that New Balance can break even on a short run of the shoes. Even if the reports of the initial 350 + 1,000 that were overnighted for the Marathon expo are true, if they stick with 350 pair for the other events, thats what, 3,500 pair? (350x7 + 1000) And then if you break it down Men/Women, thats 1,750 each, so maybe 100 per size? Or roughly 15 per size per race? Yeah, LE is awesome and all, but if these were listed at the same price as the normal 860v3 (and most New Balance LE are within a few bucks of the normal shoe) there isn't much wiggle room in the margins to have to setup for a new color run for 100 pair. I'd imagine they want to do something to sell more to hit their break even point, be it a pre-sale before the expos, or at least a short online sale period.

 

[SoupBone]

Did anyone actually see the MSRP for the shoes? I can't imagine that New Balance can break even on a short run of the shoes. Even if the reports of the initial 350 + 1,000 that were overnighted for the Marathon expo are true, if they stick with 350 pair for the other events, thats what, 3,500 pair? (350x7 + 1000) And then if you break it down Men/Women, thats 1,750 each, so maybe 100 per size? Or roughly 15 per size per race? Yeah, LE is awesome and all, but if these were listed at the same price as the normal 860v3 (and most New Balance LE are within a few bucks of the normal shoe) there isn't much wiggle room in the margins to have to setup for a new color run for 100 pair. I'd imagine they want to do something to sell more to hit their break even point, be it a pre-sale before the expos, or at least a short online sale period.

I hope so, but if they follow Disney's motto, we won't be seeing them except on eBay for outrageous prices.