New Balance 327 Big Kid 'Garnet Deep Sea'
Colorway: Garnet/Deep Sea · Style code: GS327HE1 · Release date: December 19, 2021 · Price: $75 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: New Balance 327 Big Kid 'Black Red Blue' (GS327BC1) · New Balance 327 Sneakers (GS327BD) · New Balance 327 Big Kid 'Light Chrome Blue' (GS327BS) · New Balance 327 Big Kid 'Collective - Black' (GS327BW1) · New Balance 327 Lace White Sneakers (GS327CGP)
Charlotte Lee's brief for the 327 was not to reissue anything. It was to build a shoe that felt like it came out of the New Balance archive without ever having existed in it, which meant taking parts from several 1970s runners and recombining them.
The oversized N across the quarter panel is the most obvious borrowing, scaled up from the 320 of 1976. The rubber that wraps around the heel comes from the SuperComp, and the lugged outsole pattern is lifted from the 355, a trail model from the same period. The angular, forward-leaning profile is the designer's own addition.
The result read as retro and new at once, which is why it moved quickly from a niche release into a core line carrying kids' and women's sizing. This version runs garnet red over a deep sea blue.