New Balance Numeric NM 417 Franky Villani Breakfast Tea

The NM417: A Vulcanized Mid-Top Built With Franky Villani

The Numeric team had been waiting a long time to hand Franky Villani a signature shoe and let him run with his own vision. His aesthetic and style drove the whole design process, with one simple brief: bring skate heritage together with New Balance's iconic silhouettes. The result is the NM417, a vulcanized, mid-height skate shoe. His name sits on the tongue, right above the white label marked 417. And the pair was tested and approved by Franky himself.

Breakfast Tea means warm browns across the whole upper, with no stray color.Suede covers the toe, sides and heel counter, while a woven textile takes the quarter and the collar. Only the big embroidered cream "N" and the cream piping along the sidewall break up the monochrome. At the heel, a pebbled overlay carries the cream NB# logo. The thick laces stay in the upper's tone, the tongue shows NB# and the Franky Villani signature, and the tonal gum sole closes everything off in the same shade.

New Balance reinforced where skating gets expensive: the upper gets a triple-layer build in the wear zones, the ones griptape chews through first. Underneath, the vulcanized outsole carries the classic herringbone tread in a modernized version, rated for grip and durability. The photos also show concentric circles under the forefoot, right at the pivot spot. Inside, the Abzorb insole is there for comfort and impact protection. The padded collar sits on a mid-height cut. As a rule, a vulcanized sole needs breaking in: give it a few sessions before it loosens up to your foot.