After a roughly six-year break, New Balance again has a tennis sneaker in its lifestyle collection. And the T500 has taken a pinnacle spot, debuting with an Aime Leon Dore collaboration, offering mainline styles and now introducing a Ganni collaboration.

As tennis represents a growing element of today’s style trends and holds a key place in the New Balance performance culture, the brand expects the T500 to accentuate those elements in its lifestyle lineup for a long time coming.

“This is a style that very much our ambition is to build into the next New Balance icon,” Lauren Fitzsimmons, New Balance global lifestyle marketing manager, tells me. “We have a tactical, strategic approach. The positioning is really important and will set it up for long-term success.”

The fact that New Balance is aligning the T500 has a premium lifestyle sneaker isn’t just about its history in tennis, but about the silhouette itself. A near exact remake of a 1982 tennis performance shoe, Brian Lynn, New Balance global vice president of lifestyle, tells me the design is timeless and wearable. “It came out in 1982, but still has that sleekness and sharpness we are kind of known for,” he says. “We were very clear that we liked the look and aesthetic but had a lot of back and forth trying to get [the comfort] right. For us it was important to get as close to the original, but also update it so it is comfortable.”

Lynn says he found a pristine 1980s pair on Ebay in his size. He loved the look and materials, but knew the brand had to update the fit after trying it on. “As much as it is a simple shoe, we were trying to get that shape and all the little details we had from back in those days right,” he says. “It is a lot of hard work making something look so simple.”

Dialing in the feel came alongside embracing the premium materials of the original. That’s why the T500 fills with suede and leather, giving New Balance what Fitzsimmons calls a “premium and considered court shoe” and opening the chance to highlight differing materials and emphasize the classic design in a variety of colors and styles. “As a brand,” Lynn says, “we do those materials better than anyone else. We do see ourselves as the most premium sports brand in the world. At every level, we want to make sure it can be the best it can be.”

Dipping back into tennis with the T500 was in part a reaction to trends, an embrace of the brand’s current growth and the desire to have a low-profile silhouette in a court style. The T500 fit the bill.

Lynn says the success of the New Balance 550, a remake of an archival basketball shoe, was one of the first lifestyle court offerings from a brand known for both performance and lifestyle running. Once the 550 took off, that opened the door for a additional court lifestyle offerings. “The T500 just has that timeless appeal to it,” he says, “it is almost classic New Balance but done on a cupsole. For us it was nice it has that heritage, but this shoe is timeless, well made, features premium materials. It is not meant to be a hype shoe, just look good with any outfit.”

And with so much similarity in the brand’s retro basketball styles, the T500 offers a fresh perspective. “Just given the landscape and marketplace at the moment and what the consumer is gravitating toward, it made sense to tap into our tennis archive,” Fitzsimmons says.

With the brand’s performance tennis continuing to grow—New Balance launched a second signature shoe for American star Coco Gauff in August, adding to a mix of popular on-court models from the Boston-based brand—having a lifestyle option in the sport “sits nicely with who we are as a brand,” Lynn says. “Let’s make sure we have a lifestyle component to compliment what we are doing in the performance space.”

Fitzsimmons says tennis is having a “thing at the minute,” both on court and in fashion off the court. “It is important to have a well-rounded view on what our tennis offering is,” she says. “Having a shoe like the T500 sitting alongside signature performance product makes a lot of sense, it just gives the consumer another alternative. It is not just performance tennis, but we do have lifestyle.”

New Balance kicked off the T500 launch in late 2023 with the Aime Leon Dore collaboration and then created a “Quiet Please” campaign tied to the luxury positioning and materials of the mainline sneaker for early 2024. Next up comes the collaboration with Ganni, launching Sept. 20, all before a future leather version and additional color and material makeups.

“It was important for us to get a different lens on it,” Fitzsimmons says about the Ganni collaboration. “Obviously we have our view, but bringing Ganni and adding their perspective on how the T500 can show up in the market is another fun twist.”

Ditte Reffstrup, creative director at Ganni, tells me it’s no coincidence that Ganni chose the T500 when it came time to work with New Balance, but it isn’t just about the tennis, rather the “timeless appeal and versatility of the silhouette” that can be styled across a range of moods, adding that the minimalist roots allow it to fit everyday wear. Giving it a Ganni twist also allows the shoe to serve as a statement piece to contrast dressier looks. “Whether you’re pairing it with a relaxed sporty ensemble or using it to add contrast to a more polished suiting look, the T500 offers a freedom of styling,” Reffstrup says. “It’s all about expressing individuality, which is core to both our brands.”

The Ganni x New Balance T500 release will give the sneaker bold leopard prints and “unexpected twists that bring new energy to the silhouette,” he says, while focusing on high-quality materials.

“The T500’s simplicity allows for creative exploration, and its iconic status makes it a silhouette that resonates with both the past and the future,” Reffstrup says. “I really think this silhouette and shoe has a timeless appeal of a true evergreen.”

Working with collaborative partners is a process that helps New Balance give products a fresh perspective, all while bringing a different audience to the brand, exposing consumers to a new silhouette.

The roughly six-year gap without a tennis lifestyle model—the last silhouette, the New Balance Court 300, wasn’t a true archival model but an amalgamation of heritage designs—meant, Lynn says, that when it came time to bring tennis back, they knew they had to be in love with the shoe. “If we are going to do this again,” he says, “let’s do it correctly and properly.”

That means the T500 will remain a key focus for the next couple of years. As lifestyle offerings continue to grow in 2025 and 2026, New Balance will feature additional court-inspired designs even if there aren’t going to be direct tennis archival pieces returning, allowing the T500 to hold a pinnacle position for both New Balance and lifestyle tennis sneakers.