First Impressions of Kawhi’s New Balance Omn1s

All-Star weekend has come to a close, and we’ve all had a bit of time to digest Kawhi Leonard’s first signature sneaker. The New Balance Omn1s has been met with mixed feelings throughout the sneaker community. But, as there are no published tech specs at this time we are left to only give a partial opinion based on the aesthetics. As of now, my opinion is that these will sit on shelves. The shoe is completely boring and does nothing to differentiate itself from the already crowded basketball sneaker arena. In fact, the commercial teasing the sneaker seemed to be a bigger hit than the shoe. That ad drew in consumers, convincing us that New Balance was about to blow our minds. Instead we were presented with this “basic” basketball sneaker.

The Omn1s is very forgettable in terms of looks. It seems to sport a knit upper with a forefoot strap and leather ankle collar. The only thing I know for sure about the sneaker is that the cushioning is the FuelCell foam used in some of New Balance’s performance runners. The only reason I know that is because it’s stamped on the back of the heel. After having a pretty in depth discussion about this sneaker with the guys from the Sneak Diss podcast, a great point was made…New Balance runners are known for their high quality leathers and suedes, but none of that was present on this sneaker. So at this time we are left with questions surrounding materials (where’s the press release breaking down the specs New Balance?) .

Let’s not forget the player endorsing this sneaker is not exactly out spoken. There is no question that Kawhi is an amazing player and will most likely find himself in the Hall of Fame once his career is over.

Even though he is very skilled on the court, it takes a bigger personality to sell sneakers, period. Even the biggest names on the court still have their sneakers on shelves unless it’s a limited colorway or collaboration. Speaking of collaborations, wouldn’t it have made a larger buzz with the sneaker community if they would rolled these out with a collab from Kith or Concepts (two companies know for some solid New Balance collabs).

I know this is the definition of judging a book by its cover, but with no specs to fall back on, this shoe just doesn’t look like a winner at first glance. Hopefully we are in for a surprise in the future with this model. It looks like we will just have to wait and see. What are your thought on the Omn1s? Let us know down below in the comments.