A $400 gray New Balance needs more than nostalgia to justify itself. The revived Made in USA 2040v5 answers with Horween leather, two carbon-fiber plates, and three generations of cushioning technology stacked beneath one deliberately familiar upper.

The 2040 line began in 2012 as a showcase for New Balance’s American factories, and the fifth version returns to that premise rather than reproducing an old catalog shoe.

Two-tone mesh is overlaid with Horween nubuck at the saddle, tongue, foxing, mudguard, and toe, applied with two gauges of contrast stitching. Castlerock gray, Mood Indigo, and Blacktop keep the material shifts legible without turning the shoe into a color exercise.

Underfoot, FuelCell, ABZORB SBS, and ENCAP share the midsole. A full-length carbon plate and smaller medial plate add support and stability, placing the shoe well above the simpler hidden cushioning used by the brand’s recent Numeric 340. It is positioned as technical luxury, not current-generation race footwear, and its 70-percent-or-more domestic value is part of that proposition.

The unisex 2040v5 launches exclusively in North America on August 20 at 10 a.m. ET for $399.99, with a global release planned for May 2027.