The 4 reasons why New Balance 608 is the best sneaker ever made

There are 4 reasons for this.

When it comes to buying sneakers these days, there are very few choices which suits every man of any age. The New Balance 608, which is what I wear personally, is one of the only that truly any man can wear.

These are the 4 reasons why the 608 is so great:

1. It comes in all white.

It is exceedingly difficult to find an all-white sneaker where literally every part of the shoe is white. Some guys like this. Goes great with jeans and offers a nice clean look. Yes, the 608 has an all-white version.

2. It comes in all black.

Exactly the same as the all-white except in all-black. Yes, the 608 is offered this way.

Who wears an all-black sneaker? Guys who want sneakers that look like traditional shoes or boots. From a distance, you can't even tell it's a sneaker, especially if you tuck in the laces so the bow doesn't show and wear black socks.

3. It comes in brown.

If you thought all-white or all-black was difficult to find in a sneaker, brown is the most difficult color to get. The 608 has not one but two browns. A lighter stone color, and a darker chocolate brown. The "N" logo sticks out more on these, but that's forgivable.

Who wears these? Guys who don't want all-white or all-black and prefer something in the middle with a muted tone to it, or guys who prefer earth tone colors. Some dudes prefer not to wear anything "loud" in appearance, and a brown sneaker fits the bill quite nicely in that respect.

4. It comes in WIDE sizes

This right here is the biggest reason why the 608 is so great.

Go to any shoe store. Doesn't matter which one. Go look at the sneakers, and prepare for disappointment if you have wide feet (which I do). The choices will be few, and what choices you do have will look totally stupid and probably not fit your feet correctly.

The 608 not only comes in wide but EXTRA wide. My feet take a wide (as in 2E) size, but you can get the 608 in double wide (a.k.a. X-Wide or 4E) size. Oh, yes.

I don't have unbelievably huge feet, but some men do. The 608 goes all the way up to giant clodhopper 18 X-Wide sizes with all-white, all-black, brown and a few other colors offered.

Which do I wear personally?

I go with the tried-and-true color seen above, which is simply known as white/navy. It's a white sneaker with a small, subtle amount of navy blue striping...

...although I will at some point probably get a pair of 608's in all-black and another in stone. They look good, wear well, and most importantly FIT MY FEET.

Shoe shopping for me, as well as many other men, is an annoyance because the days of going in a shoe store and finding a nice selection of simple styles in WIDE sizes are long gone. I have to order my 608's online just like most men do.

If you've noticed a lot of guys wearing sandals or Crocs, now you know why. It's because they tried the shoe store (probably several of them), tried to find a sneaker that worked, none of them did, so they said screw it and did the sandal or Croc thing.

Published 2022 Sep 8