New Balance gave JFG the keys and never looked back ever since
It started with an invoice. When Joseph Robinson, better known as Joe Freshgoods, first partnered with New Balance, his debut deal didn’t come with a standard designer fee or free shoes. He had to buy his stock wholesale and sell it himself at a pop-up, with a six-figure bill hanging over his shoulder. He didn’t know if anyone would show up. They did. A formula — and a partnership — was born.
JFG X New Balance Pop-Up in 2020
That was February 2020, NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago. It was one of the last major sneaker events of its kind before the world shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions. Against all odds, the timing only amplified the legend.
Before Joe Freshgoods, New Balance was still shaking its reputation as the shoe that retirees wore to run errands. His debut set off a chain reaction that eventually brought in collaborators like Aimé Leon Dore, Action Bronson, and Salehe Bembury, reshaping the brand’s cultural identity entirely.
His success led New Balance to name him Creative Director in 2022. Over six years, his portfolio expanded to include the 990v4, 993, 510, 650, 1000, 2000, 990v6, and the 2010.
What separates JFG from the crowded field of sneaker collaborators isn’t just design instinct — it’s storytelling. His 2021 “Outside Clothes” 993 campaign used references to Spike Lee films to explore what it meant to wear nice clothes growing up Black in America. It worked so well that he started noticing other brands creating campaigns that looked just like it. That kind of cultural influence is hard to manufacture and impossible to fake.
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By 2025, the partnership had produced 20 iconic pairs of footwear. The celebration took the form of an “Aged Well” 992 — a colorway designed to resemble their very first shoe fading in sunlight over time — along with a pop-up tour through Chicago, Boston, and Washington D.C., three cities central to New Balance’s cultural legacy.
The 1890: A New Canvas
Now in 2026, Robinson has unveiled his 12th collaborative project with New Balance, this time centered on the emerging 1890 silhouette.
The 1890 is a relatively new addition to the New Balance catalog, first introduced through a collaboration with Action Bronson. It draws direct inspiration from the Y2K era, fusing the upper of the retro 890v3 with the heavy-duty tooling of the original 2002 performance runner. With Bronson setting the stage, Freshgoods becomes just the second collaborator to work on the model.
The drop arrives as a two-pack. Leaning into the “90” in the silhouette’s name, Robinson pulls from childhood memories of rushing home to catch music videos on MTV — a visual world defined by Hype Williams’ bold color palettes, fish-eye lenses, and futuristic CGI.
The first colorway, “Finger Waves,” takes its cues from Missy Elliott’s Hype Williams-directed video for “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly),” featuring orange mesh uppers that nod to her iconic orange raincoat ensemble, with streaks of yellow and black creating a flame effect.
The second, “Naughty Things,” pulls from the visual energy of Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson’s “What’s It Gonna Be?!” and Missy Elliott and Juvenile’s “U Can’t Resist.”
The packaging matches the ambition — a box built to look like a diamond metal plate with an oval window, directly channeling Hype Williams’ signature fish-eye lens aesthetic.
The 1890 collab is proof that the partnership still has real creative juice. Robinson credits New Balance for deliberately picking collaborators who are genuinely different from one another, and for flagging potential style overlaps before they happen. That thoughtfulness has kept the JFG relationship from going stale where so many others have.
Six years in, a Chicago kid who once didn’t know if anyone would line up for his shoes is now the creative compass of one of the most culturally significant brands in the world. The Joe Freshgoods x New Balance 1890 is expected to drop in Summer 2026.
