Let's get out of here. I'll show you how to use those things. You mean it? I do. Let's get out of here. Okay. See you guys. Gotta go. Isn't it lovely seeing New Balance bringing families together? So today we're going to see what's inside the one shoe that transcends generations and style. The New Balance Made in the USA 990 V5s. And thanks to New Balance for sponsoring this video. Our Black Friday sale is going on right now. And it's the only sale we do all year. It's 25% off site-wide.

All the wallets, all the belts, everything that we make by hand here in the shop by all of us in the shop. So if you're doing some holiday shopping, check out the link below and check out what we make. Now back to the shoes. Let's go over the shoe information. So the brand is New Balance.

The style is the Made in USA 990 V5s. The color is gray and castle rock.

They weigh 14.8 ounces. They retail for $185 and they're made in the USA.

On New Balance's site they say manufactured in the US for over 75 years and representing a limited portion of US sales.

New Balance Made is a premium collection that contains a domestic value of 70% or greater.

So not every single aspect is made in the United States, but they're built in the United States.

So these shoes have a wildly diverse following. On one side you have the dads that love the comfort and they've been wearing New Balances for decades and decades.

And on the other side you have the younger generation that love the look of that ironic dad shoe style.

And I actually really like that look. I'm a big fan of the 90s style coming back.

I think it's pretty great. But it's one of the only shoes that is purchased by several different age groups for several different reasons and several different looks.

It just kind of transcends all of it. It's pretty awesome. So now let's go over the information that we can gather about this shoe before we cut it in half starting with the upper.

So this is a suede leather upper with some mesh fabric for breathability and a few little reflective accents, some rubber accents.

And it looks like some hard plastic accents as well. And the leather itself is a suede leather that comes in pretty thick.

It's just under 2 millimeters thick, which is surprisingly thick for this type of shoe.

A lot of times you see really thin suede leather. But suede isn't as strong and it's not quite as durable as a full grain leather because that full grain almost acts like the glue underneath the carpet.

If you ever pulled carpet up it's that glue that holds all those fibers together. Suede doesn't have that hard layer of grain holding it all together.

But for a shoe that has a lot of synthetic materials that are going to wear out significantly faster than basically any leather, I think it's totally fine, especially how thick this leather is.

Next to the lining, so there's two different types of lining on the inside of this shoe.

You've got this really open jersey knit fabric at the heel area that's backed with a thick layer of foam.

And then at the front of the shoe you have another jersey type material that's a lot tighter knit, but it still is just as breathable.

And the reason they chose these materials is for the breathability because all these patches of this type of jersey material in the front is backed by that soft, open fabric on the inside.

So you get a lot of that breathability that people love New Balances for. And then to the construction of this shoe, so at that US factory after all the pieces are cut out and they're all stitched together and it starts to look like the shape of a shoe, they form it around the last and create this actual shoe shape.

And then the last thing they do is heat up that outsole, put some glue on there and they take a ton of pressure and bind those two layers together, creating a bond that's really hard to tear apart.

And one interesting thing about this shoe is you see this little hard plastic right there, that acts as a shank.

I guess it basically is a shank because that helps structure this shoe so that when you're climbing on ladders, doing your chores, or climbing on jungle gyms, you've got that little bit of extra support that you're not completely bottoming out your shoe and wearing your arches out.

And then next to the insole, so if you pull this out, it's just a fairly thin ortholite insert that is removable.

So if you need a little more arch support, you got your orthotics in there or you want something a little more squishy, you can always swap them out.

And then to the midsole, so this is actually a triple density midsole.

If you watched the Vans video, they claimed it was a triple density midsole in their boot, but it was not.

This one actually is because you can see this foam here on the white at the forefront of the foot is a little bit harder of a foam.

It comes in at a 30 shore A. And then this little bit darker foam at the heel is a little bit softer at a 25 shore A.

And then right here at the edge, you've got one more layer of foam that's right around 30 shore A again.

So a true triple density midsole. And then to the outsole, so this is a rubber outsole.

And you can see the little reliefs in here to help it flex and bend so you don't have a really stiff shoe.

And the thickness of the tread is around 4 millimeters thick, which is a good thickness for some durability.

And the hardness of this rubber is around 85 shore A, which is actually harder than I expected.

I thought it was going to be a little bit softer, but with this soft of a midsole, it does make sense to have a longer lasting harder rubber for the outsole.

And the last thing I wanted to mention before cutting this in half is that New Balance is one of the only brands that is actually offering different widths and multiple widths of shoes.

Because there's nothing worse than having a nice comfortable squishy shoe, but your toes are crammed into the end of it because you got wide feet.

Now let's get this thing cut in half and see if there's anything else on the inside. Alright, we got it cut in half.

Let's see what's inside. So a very basic construction.

There's really nothing else on the inside that we didn't identify. But one thing that I did notice is New Balance is one of the only brands that I've seen where they don't use a really hard lasting board underneath of the insole.

And it was the same way in the 624s that we cut apart previously, and if you haven't seen that I'll link it below.

They don't really have much between you and the midsole of the foam, which is maybe part of the reason why so many people love the comfort of New Balance.

Because you don't really have to break anything in. They're just kind of foam right underneath your foot.

And maybe it's not quite as durable, but also you can always replace the insoles.

And now you can also see how these different densities of foam work on the inside.

You can see how it kind of slopes down to give it a gradual decrease in density.

You can also see in the heel they have a pretty heavy duty counter for a sneaker.

And the counter is what gives you that structure around the heel so the shoe doesn't collapse and kind of cups your heel.

And it's not a cheap fiberboard counter like we've seen in previous shoes, and it's not even a elastic counter.

It looks like a heat molded plastic counter because you can bend it over and over and it doesn't really fracture in any way.

But really other than that there's there's nothing else in the shoe. It's a very simple constructed shoe.

So overall is this the most durable sneaker out there? Far from it.

You know the suede leather is a nice durable suede leather, but they're prioritizing the breathability and the squishy comfortness of New Balance's over the durability.

Is this the best value shoe? Also no, because you can find shoes out there built very similarly for a lot less money.

But these are made in the USA or at least they contain a domestic value of 70% or greater.

Which people all the time in the comment section anytime we're cutting apart a shoe or boot from a different country, people always say I'd rather pay a little bit more to get stuff made in the United States rather than some other country.

So a portion of the cost of the shoe is you investing in domestic production of shoes and sneakers to support people in the United States to keep their jobs and to keep production facilities running in the United States.

I run a handmade goods business that's all made in the United States, so I've got a little bit of a soft spot for that.

But I think it's totally okay and admirable to some degree to be willing to support and purchase products made in the United States.

Even if they do cost you a little bit more. So overall it's a comfortable breathable shoe that looks good on just about everyone for every different style and generation that you happen to belong to.

And it's made in the United States. And that's a pretty solid combination to make a shoe that transcends styles and generations.

And I think that's exactly what the shoe is. So let me know what you guys think. And if you've owned a pair of these, let me know your experience with them.

And if you're considering getting a pair of New Balances, be sure to use the link in my description.

It just helps support the channel and support the brands that are supporting us. And we have the Black Friday sale going on.

That's in the description. And the 624 video is in the description as well. Lots of stuff in the description.

But thank you guys for everything you do. See ya. And that is how it's done.

New Balances are cool. They really are.