Gauff and Aminé Take the New Balance 983 Into Month Two

Coco Gauff and Aminé wear the New Balance 983 in The Audition, a month after the shoe went on sale on October 1, 2026. The order matters. New Balance revealed the shoe with a tennis player on September 1 and followed with a rapper, which makes the 983 rollout read like a record campaign: a lead single, a release date, then the second verse.

Aminé is a Portland born rapper and singer songwriter, and Gauff is the tennis player whose New Balance partnership began in 2018. They are the two faces named in the launch coverage of the 983, style code U9835DU, whose first listed colorway paired Shadow Blue with Zinc Blue.

Tuesday, September 1: A Reveal Before a US Open Match

New Balance revealed the 983 on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, with Coco Gauff, ahead of her US Open first round match. The shoe then waited a month for its global launch on October 1.

That month was busy. Sneaker News had a page up for a tan and grey pair on September 3, a green, yellow and red pair and a black pair on September 9, and a Thunder Brown pair, style code U9836VQ, on September 29. At least five colorways were in circulation before the first one went on sale.

The silhouette is a lifestyle take on 2000s running shoes. Sources say its midsole borrows the elliptical ABZORB SBS pods and wave like molding of the 9060, then adds rounded overlays and reflective accents of its own.

Gauff opening the campaign follows from her history with the brand. In late August New Balance released Pass The Peas, an unscripted conversation between Gauff and Joe Freshgoods about family, confidence and growing up under pressure. The 983 reveal came days later, with Gauff on court.

A Portland Rapper Takes the Second Verse

Aminé is a New Balance brand ambassador with collaboration shoes of his own. Complex reported a 503 pair run for his 610 Mini Mooze project, which shows how small his previous New Balance releases have been compared with a global launch.

Launch coverage described the 983 campaign as built on the contrast between his style and Gauff's. The imagery that ran with the reveal showed several Gauffs dressed in different outfits, an argument that the shoe fits any look. A rapper adds a second wardrobe to that argument. It is a versatility pitch run in two lanes, court and studio.

Sources differ on timing. Most describe Aminé as part of the launch campaign, while one framed him as joining in upcoming drops, which is how a clip on November 2 would read.

Baklava Had a Chapter 1. The 983 Has an Audition.

New Balance has tied music and film to shoes before. Action Bronson's Baklava 2811 came with a short film, Chapter 1, directed by Chris Grosso, which premiered on July 14 at 2PM Eastern, two days before a 300 pair Tri State launch went on sale on July 16.

Put the three video releases in a row and the cadence shows. Baklava Chapter 1 arrived on July 14, Pass The Peas about six weeks later in late August, and The Audition about ten weeks after that. The gaps are lengthening, and each release puts a different kind of talent in front of the same shoe family: a rapper, a tennis player with a creative director, then both.

New Balance has not described this sequence as a plan, and the order may be an accident of calendars. The US Open fixed Gauff's date, and Aminé's drop has no stated date at all. Treat the record rollout as a read, not a statement from the brand.

Nobody Has Published a Sales Number

No sales figure for the 983 appeared in any coverage reviewed for this piece, so the rollout's effect cannot be measured from outside. The shoe also shares a crowded launch month. Tyrese Maxey's signature V1 went on sale on October 2, Kith's 990v3 pairs landed that Friday too, and Miu Miu showed a rebuilt RC150 in Paris on October 4. The Made in USA 990v7 follows on November 6.

That is a lot of New Balance for a shopper to sort. The 983 is early, not late: a month old, with at least five colorways in circulation and, as of November 3, 2026, no published sales figure.