FLOAT 100 · Sneakers · No. 100
New Balance 990v3 x Joe Freshgoods 'Outside Clothes'
A Chicago designer took New Balance's most buttoned-up running shoe and turned it into a memory of 1990s summers on the West Side, sky-blue mesh, dirt-brown suede and grass-green trim, and helped make the 'dad shoe' a collector's object.
- Year
- 2021
- Maker
- New Balance
- By price in sneakers
- 58 of 100
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Create a free account- Shoe
- New Balance 990v3 x Joe Freshgoods 'Outside Clothes,' style M990JG3
- Designer
- Joseph Robinson, known as Joe Freshgoods, of Chicago's West Side
- Released
- August 5, 2021, in Chicago; raffle August 17; global September 10, 2021
- Retail price
- $220 (listed as $219.99 in one report)
- Upper
- Blue mesh with brown and tan suede overlays and green accents, meant to evoke sky, earth and grass
- Details
- 'JFG' on the lateral heel in place of '990v3'; 'Outside' and 'Clothes' stitched at the heel; cloud-and-sky insoles
- Cushioning
- ABZORB midsole with ENCAP
- Collaboration
- Robinson's second project with New Balance, after the 2020 'No Emotions Are Emotions' 992
The shoe built for a $100 promise
New Balance introduced the 990 in 1982 as the first running shoe ever priced at $100, justified with pig suede, 3M reflective film and a molded Motion Control Device. The 990v2 followed in 1998, and the 990v3 launched in 2012 to mark the line's 30th birthday, with New Balance senior designer Andrew Nyssen leading the design.
The 990v3 is a made-in-America shoe, with a soft suede rear, a red 'NB' on the heel and 'New Balance USA' printed on the tongue. For years its reputation was comfort and quiet dependability, not hype.
Joe Freshgoods
Joseph Robinson grew up in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. Before building his own label, he worked at Niketown and at the Chicago streetwear shop Leaders. He has said a fourth-grade teacher told him he wasn't going to make shoes and should think about becoming a firefighter or police officer instead, a moment that stuck with him.
Robinson co-owned the Chicago shop Fat Tiger Workshop and became known for what one outlet called storytelling through sneakers. After an earlier collaboration with another major sportswear brand fell through, he began working with New Balance in February 2020, following a meeting with Joe Grondin, then the company's business unit manager for collaborations.
Their first release, the 'No Emotions Are Emotions' 992, dropped on February 14, 2020, exclusively in Chicago at a Joe Freshgoods pop-up. Only about 800 pairs were made because neither side was sure of demand, and the shoe was finished in six months, about a third of the usual development time.
Smelling like outside
The second project, 'Outside Clothes,' was about the summers of Robinson's 1990s childhood on the West Side, the clothes kids wore to play outdoors. 'Sometimes it takes something being taken away from you to realize what it means to you,' he said at release. 'To me, being told you smell like outside represents the early stages of what fun meant.'
The upper is a bright blue mesh, standing in for the sky, with brown and tan suede overlays for the earth and green accents for grass. The 'N' is bright blue, the tongue top and laces are khaki, and the insoles are printed with clouds and sky. Instead of the usual '990v3' on the lateral heel, it reads 'JFG,' and the words 'Outside' and 'Clothes' are stitched at the heel. Underneath is New Balance's ABZORB cushioning with ENCAP.
Reports give the colorway two different names: 'Desert Rose/Blue' in one release report and Beige/Aqua/Green in another, which is also how U.S. resellers list it. Most coverage and resellers use the style code M990JG3, though one release report printed it as M990V3JG3.
From Garfield Park to the world
The shoe launched first in Chicago on August 5, 2021, with a local release at Garfield Park, followed by a raffle on August 17 and a global release on September 10 through New Balance's own site and select retailers in the U.S., Europe and Asia, with matching apparel. It cost $220. It was distributed far more widely than the 800-pair 992 that came before it.
It came out in a summer dominated by the pandemic and the end of America's war in Afghanistan, with U.S. troops leaving on August 30, a week after the FDA gave full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
On October 3, 2026, the lowest listing at a U.S. sneaker shop was $707, more than three times its retail price.
The collaborator New Balance kept
Outside Clothes became the second of what by 2025 had grown to 10 projects and 20 sneakers with New Balance, including 'Conversations Amongst Us' in 2022, 'Beneath the Surface' and 'Stuntman' in 2023, a 990v4 '1998,' a 1000 and a 990v6 in 2024, and the 'Aged Well' 992 in 2025.
Robinson credits the brand's approach: 'New Balance just lets me do cool cultural things,' he told one interviewer, saying that was how real collaboration was supposed to work, and that other brands are now using the same formula with smaller creators. In August 2026 he opened a combined shop and coffee bar in Chicago's West Town, with the coffee side named for his grandmother.
The numbers
- Release dates
- August 5, 2021 (Chicago); August 17, 2021 (raffle); September 10, 2021 (global)
- Retail price
- $220
- Style code
- M990JG3 (one report printed M990V3JG3)
- Colorway
- Reported as Desert Rose/Blue and as Beige/Aqua/Green
- Platform
- 990v3, introduced 2012
- Production
- Not stated in available sources
Timeline
New Balance introduces the 990, the first $100 running shoe.
The 990v3 launches for the 990's 30th anniversary.
Joe Freshgoods' first New Balance shoe, the 'No Emotions Are Emotions' 992, releases in Chicago; about 800 pairs.
The 'Outside Clothes' 990v3 releases in Chicago.
A raffle release follows.
Global release details are published: $220, M990JG3.
Global release through New Balance and select retailers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
The 'Conversations Amongst Us' collection, the next Joe Freshgoods project, releases.
The 'Aged Well' 992 releases, part of a run of 10 projects and 20 sneakers.
Robinson opens a retail and coffee space in Chicago's West Town.
The world in 2021
The FDA gives full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Andrew Cuomo's resignation takes effect; Kathy Hochul becomes New York's first female governor.
Hurricane Ida makes landfall in Louisiana on the 16th anniversary of Katrina.
The U.S. withdraws its last troops from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year war.
Ida's remnants cause record flooding and a state of emergency in New York City.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 | $707 | Asking price, not a saleLowest listing at a U.S. sneaker shop for M990JG3; prices vary by size. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, New Balance 990v3 x Joe Freshgoods 'Outside Clothes' is number 58 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (100 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The 990 was the first running shoe ever priced at $100 when it debuted in 1982.
- The heel reads 'JFG' instead of '990v3.'
- The insoles are printed with clouds and sky.
- Joe Freshgoods' first New Balance shoe was made in about 800 pairs and finished in six months.
- A fourth-grade teacher once told Robinson he wasn't going to make shoes.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026