At the 2024 Games, New Balance is burning its own Olympic flame across Paris

As we’ve witnessed throughout the course of the Paris Olympics so far, it’s fairly easy for a brand to secure visibility by way of sponsorships, events and ambassadors. But to effectively spark cultural and artistic conversation on the world’s biggest performance stage is another thing altogether. Just ask Brooke Watt, global senior director of product creation and strategy at New Balance (working closely with Teddy Santis’ Made in USA line and women’s apparel) who has been directly involved in devising the heritage sportswear brand’s Olympics presence for the better part of the last year. “One of the things we could all agree on was that we wanted to come to Paris, but that we wanted to come paying homage and respect to the culture here,” she says.

We’re sitting on the top floor of New Balance’s Le Marais store, surrounded by the newly unveiled limited-edition MADE in USA collection. Moments before, the brand’s new 990v6 and 997 models have just been introduced, complemented by custom T-shirts and upholstered pieces by multidisciplinary Parisian artist Franck Pellegrino.

“We could have developed all this in the US and brought it here for something like a pop-up exhibition, but it was important for us to build something with an artist who has local roots and meaning, who could help us shape something that would resonate with Parisians... with the Olympic moment,” Watt goes on. “This collection really feels like our love letter to Paris. This is New Balance’s MADE in USA collection, but we weren’t thinking USA-centric. We were thinking about how we could show up and really touch the hearts of Parisians.”

This “love letter” is just one of the ways New Balance is setting a new cultural gold standard during the Olympics, mastering the brand's clean intersection of sports and lifestyle. Elsewhere in Paris, New Balance simultaneously brought to life a unique project with Joe Robinson, founder and creative director of Chicago-based lifestyle brand Joe Freshgoods. The latest in an ongoing relationship between Robinson and New Balance is a new collection dubbed ‘From Prom to Paris’ featuring streamlined lounge and sportswear, and his fresh iteration of the New Balance 990v6s, rendered in (suitably Parisian) saturated hues: in his words, “sexy red” and “prom blue”. But rather than just simply set up shop for the range, Robinson instead had the opportunity to curate a deeply personal art exhibition, ‘A Friend Named Cousin’, conveying themes of chosen family and shared experiences.

“When this project came up, I could easily have just planned a pop-up, but I’ve had the chance to select my favourite artists from around the world and give them a platform,” Robinson says, sitting casually, wine in hand, on a bench within the exhibition. “It has been super cool. When I do things with New Balance, it never feels overly branded and that’s big for me,” he goes on. “This was all about creating a vibe. It feels right with Paris, and with the Olympics being about different people from different countries performing… this is my version of that.”

With Joe Freshgoods being a collaborator of New Balance’s for several years, Robinson has an astute take on the brand’s place in the cultural landscape. “It’s been cool to see the rise of New Balance over the last five or six years,” Robinson says. “There are a lot of reasons for this, but I know they really let their collaborators cook. They let him be him, let her be her, let this brand be this brand. I’ve had to get things approved by legal of course, but that’s it. It still really feels like Joe Freshgoods,” Robinson reflects, before adding: “We’re going to look back in like five years, and be like, ‘Yo, that whole 10 to 20 year run for New Balance was really special.’”

These special cultural moments across the French capital see New Balance not just imprint itself across the Parisian Olympic moment, but harness it to create connections, conversations and most of all, a feeling. “It’s the emotion of it,” Watt says back in the Marais boutique, when asked about the phenomenon that is the Games. “It’s this special moment when all the problems of the world and our differences go away for a moment," she goes on. "You can feel the sense of pride across the global sporting community, that feeling of: 'This is my country and I’m representing it'. I get choked up just thinking about it. You know that feeling, during the Opening Ceremony, that gives you goosebumps and tears in your eyes? It’s real emotion.”