The New Balance Grey Days includes the Coco CG2 x Roland Garros release.
Each May 1, Boston-based New Balance celebrates its heritage and embraces its signature color of grey. Not many brands want to elevate grey as the pinnacle expression of design, but New Balance is all about grey. And so the tennis world, including Coco Gauff join in.
“Whether you’re new to the brand or a longtime loyalist, grey embodies the promise of everything that sets New Balance apart,” says Brian Lynn, global vice president of lifestyle and basketball. “The symbolism of grey has remained central to the brand for decades.”
That lifestyle appeal takes a decidedly performance spin with this year’s Coco CG2 x Roland Garros release as part of the Grey Days event. For the Gauff signature shoe, that grey actually takes a bit of a backset to let a “linen and dusk shower”—an off-white and blue-grey—play most prominently.
The New Balance Coco CG2 x Roland Garros design.
The unveiling of the Coco CG2 x Roland Garros edition also serves as a sneak peek to Gauff’s Roland Garros outfit. The performance footwear model features greyed-out linen as the backdrop, with true grey on the outsole and heel. A blue-grey tone is seen in the midsole, on the “N” logo and the tongue.
Gauff decided she wanted a mix of French Parisian style with a coastal vibe for Roland Garros. Like her other major tournament designs, the American star is leaning toward a “classic and mature” mix of colors and styles, the brand tells me.
The shoe will launch at retail on May 25, timed near the start of the sport’s second major tournament of the season, Roland Garros.
MORE: Coco Gauff Launching Accessible ‘Delray’ New Balance Tennis Sneaker
The New Balance T500, the brand’s signature tennis-inspired lifestyle model, also gets a Grey Days offering. This one is heavy on the grey, with accents of white, blue and black. But it’s the grey suede that is the key component of this offering.
The New Balance T500 in Grey Days treatment.
“By bringing together an array of our athletes and ambassadors to highlight these exclusive styles,” Lynn says, “we are honoring the versatility and authenticity that is core to both our heritage and our future.”
There’s also plenty of blue-grey involved in the Coco CG2 x Roland Garros Grey Days design.
Originally introduced in the 1980s, New Balance used grey as brands shifted away from leather and suede and toward synthetic textiles like nylon that often came with stark white and bright colors. Using grey, then, New Balance felt it stood out among competitors, a perfect complement to the concrete and asphalt backdrop of road running, the brand says. While models and styles have certainly evolved, grey remains emblematic of the brand’s position in the industry.
For Grey Days 2025, the classic New Balance shade is applied in various forms across 21 footwear styles, ranging from classics to modern silhouettes. For 2025, the reissue of the 1300JP is on tap for May 29, a classic style released once every five years. Other key launches include the May 1 release of the 740, 9060, 1000, T500 tennis model and Fresh Foam X 1080v14; the May 14 1906 Loafer launch, a reenvisioned classic penny loafer; the May 22 Abzorb 2010 and 471 launches, both newer models inspired by running; the May 26 Numeric 933 launch; and the Coco CG2 x Roland Garros, launching May 25.
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Tim Newcomb