New Balance 990v6
I'm ngl, when the photos first came out, I was pretty skeptical, however after having them in hand, I will definitely say they are 100% better in hand & on foot than in photos.
Materials: in terms of materials, there is a soft grey suede that wraps around the sneaker above the midsole. The suede is soft to touch, & has a nice color change while you brush across it. In the toe box, you have the standard nubuck that we have all seen on Made pairs as well. There are hits of 3m all throughout the sneaker & my favorite spot of 3m is the N logo. The last thing I will mention is the tongue, which is probably my favorite feature. On the tongue, you have this nice, squishy & breathable mesh that feels really nice on your foot & adds a nice contrast to the rest of the sneaker. Overall, I liked the materials chosen.
Comfort/Sizing: I wore these almost everyday since they came in so I would be able to give an honest opinion. When I think of fuelcell, I imagine a very bouncy & responsive ride, but for ME, this had a perfect mixture of stability & bouncy & they really did an amazing job. Idk how they did it, but I find the 990v6 way more comfortable than the v5. The best way I could describe it, is imagine a V3 or fuelcell model & add stabilization and that is to me is the v6. In terms of sizing I got these in a 7.5 & they fit me perfectly. Essentially, stick to your same 990 sizing.
Overall Opinion: tbh, I'm really glad I gave this model a chance and didn't just brush it off. For me, this is exactly what I needed in a shoe, but didn't know it lol. The bouncy & stable feeling is perfect for my feet and is a really nice sneaker to wear if I'm going to be gone all day. My only gripe is the lack of suede, but if we're being honest, any collaborator could change that in their design & this is just the first of many v6's. I'm pretty excited to see what NB does with this model & I hope it gets a lot more love than the v5 did. If you haven't tried this model yet, I would recommend giving it a shot bc I was pretty skeptical at first & I'm glad I gave it a chance. NB did an incredible job upgrading from the v5