New Balance Makes Its Move on Maximalist Shoes With the Fresh Foam More

The folks up at New Balance heard you like foam, so they whipped up a shoe that packs a whole lot of it. Measuring a whopping 34mm in the heel and 30mm in the forefoot, the Fresh Foam More has a stack height to rival your post-long run pancakes—but with an underfoot feel that’s much less soft. Like the 1080 v9, the cushioning is extremely generous, but pretty firm—too much softness on such a thick layer of foam can make the midsole feel squishy and energy-sapping. For this reason, NB’s More does a little less if you’re purely seeking plushness, and instead helps “roll” the foot forward with each footstrike. “The cushioning on this shoe was soft but not mushy, and the ‘roll’ on the sole felt great with each step,” one tester said. “It helped me keep momentum on longer runs and gave me an extra boost.”

On top, the shoe keeps it simple with a clean engineered mesh that feels softer than predecessors in the Fresh Foam line. No-sew overlays cut some weight and let the shoe breathe extremely well (some testers even experienced chilly toes on a few mid-winter runs). That said, it is still the snug, bootie fit and connected tongue—set between a gel-like collar cushion and roomy toe box—that make the shoe’s upper its selling feature.

The Fresh Foam More’s midsole is a single, seamless hunk of just that—thick and sturdy Fresh Foam. While the shoe isn’t especially lightweight, laser-etchings on the sidewalls hollow out some of the extra material, which does help the shoe reduce its heft on foot. The design sits your foot deeper into the midsole, sort of like a low bucket seat in a race car, rather than keeping you perched right on top. This helps you feel stable in the shoe despite its height, and also provides a nice, smooth forward roll from heel to toe-off. Heelstrikers greatly appreciated the rolling sensation, but some mid- and forefoot strikers found the construction a bit challenging and bulky, and would have instead preferred better ground feel.

“This shoe did have a rocker-style shoe feeling. The heel-to-toe rolling action was noticeable but not overwhelming, with the cushioning on the stiffer side,” one tester noted. “I felt it was actually stiffer than my daily Brooks Ravenna and Adrenaline.”

The Fresh Foam More has a distinctly different outsole from other New Balance models. The shoe swaps the brand’s standard rubber outsole for a much lighter Ground Contact EVA-based material. However, our testers were pleasantly surprised to find that the honeycomb tread still gripped the road extremely well, even across snowy surfaces and rain-slicked pavement. The only downside was that the material did show some premature wear after about 50 miles, although our testers didn’t find that it significantly impaired the shoe’s traction. Even so, it was enough for one high-mileage runner to relegate her pair to treadmill-only runs.

One longtime NB devotee described the shoe’s fit as “typical New Balance”—true-to-size, a solid heel hold, and plenty of space in the toe box. The shoe’s bootie-style and connected tongue offer a close and secure fit through the midfoot, with just enough stretchiness from breathable engineered mesh. While the upper was a favorite for some testers, the shoe’s collar makes this a pair you’ll want to try before you buy—especially if you have flatter feet or low arches. Pairs of gel-like pods sit on both sides of the ankle joint for more cushion and stability, but can also cause rubbing if the fit is too high around the ankle bone.