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New Balance 740: where it sits and which colourways we hold
The 740 is a number in the middle of New Balance's range, not a headline shoe, and that is precisely why it is worth understanding. Here is how it splits into adult and children's runs, where the 740v2 differs, and every colourway we list.
New Balance files most of its shoes by number, and the number is not a ranking. In our catalogue the 740 sits between the three-digit shapes and the four-digit ones, next to a long list of numbers that each do one job, and it is one of the deepest single models we hold. That makes it a good place to see how the numbering actually works before you spend money on a number you have not read properly.
A number, not a silhouette
The useful thing about the numbering is that it behaves like a filing system rather than a family tree. A number identifies one shape, and the colourways and the materials change around it while the shape stays put — a 530, a 740, a 9060 and a 991v2 are four shapes filed side by side, and nothing in the digits says which one is the better shoe. The 740 is exactly what the system is for: one shape, repeated across a lot of colourways.
That is also why the trainers you see named 740 all look related but rarely look identical. The shape is shared. The upper material, the mesh pattern and the colour blocking are what the season changes, and they change a lot — enough that two pairs with the same number and neighbouring codes can look like different shoes in a photo.
740 and 740v2 are two shoes, and the code will not tell you which
This is the trap. A viewer assumes a trailing 2 means the second version, and it does not — plenty of plain 740 codes end in 2. Our catalogue carries the version in the model name, so the name is what you read and the code is only what you search with. U740WW2 is listed as 740 Triple White. U740WM2 is listed as 740v2 White Silver Reflection. Same length of code, same brand, two different shoes.
Practically, the v2 pairs we hold sit in the same place in the range and are worn the same way. The difference is in the build and the finish rather than in the pitch, and if you are choosing between the two, choose on the colourway and the material you can actually see, not on the assumption that the newer one is automatically the better one.
Four code prefixes, four size runs
The prefix in front of the number tells you who the pair was sized for, and it is worth learning because the same colourway can exist in more than one of them. In our catalogue the 740 uses four: U740 for adult pairs, GR740 for grade school, PZ740 for preschool and IZ740 for toddler. The letters after the number change every season and mean nothing to you; the two or three in front of it mean everything.
The children's pairs also carry a telling detail in the name: several are described as bungee lace, which is exactly what it sounds like — an elasticated lace instead of a tie, which is why those pairs read as a different proposition for a parent rather than a smaller version of the adult shoe. If you are buying for a child, that word in the title is the one to look for.
The colourways we hold
Every row below is a pair our catalogue holds with a shop listing it today. The codes are exact and the names are written the way our catalogue carries them, which is not always how a shop writes them. Read the version in the name and the sizing in the prefix, and the row tells you what you are looking at without a photograph.
Codes, versions and size runs as our catalogue holds them. The code is data, so it is not translated; the product block below carries today's offers and the shops behind them.
| Style code | What our catalogue lists it as |
|---|---|
| U740N9J9 | New Balance 740 Shipyard Angora |
| U740BO2 | New Balance 740 Triple Black |
| U7404OO | New Balance 740 Timberwolf White |
| U7405I7 | New Balance 740 Metallic Silver |
| U7403DN | New Balance 740 Utility Green Black |
| U740N8QA | New Balance 740 Timberwolf Afterglow |
| U740BS2 | New Balance 740 Black Silver Metallic |
| U740WW2 | New Balance 740 Triple White |
| U7403OO | New Balance 740 Linen |
| U7407CB | New Balance 740 Relic Brown Pumpernickel |
| U74034F | New Balance 740 Blue Bird Angora |
| U7403SB | New Balance 740 Angora Cinnamon |
| U740SG2 | New Balance 740v2 Silver Castlerock |
| U740BM2 | New Balance 740v2 Black Grey Silver |
| U740WM2 | New Balance 740v2 White Silver Reflection |
| U740WN2 | New Balance 740v2 White Shadow Grey Navy |
| U740MU2 | New Balance 740v2 Arid Stone |
| GR740NW | New Balance 740 Grey Black (GS) |
| PZ740NW | New Balance 740 Bungee Lace Grey Black (PS) |
| IZ740NW | New Balance 740 Bungee Lace Silver Metallic Black (TD) |
The spread inside that list is the useful part. The plain 740 comes in neutrals — triple black, triple white, timberwolf, metallic silver, linen — and a smaller set of warmer colourways, which is the colour policy of a shoe that is meant to be worn rather than collected. The v2 pairs drift slightly further towards softer tones. Nothing in it is loud, and nothing in it is scarce in the sense that matters: these are pairs bought to be worn out.
Where it sits next to the rest of the range we carry
The 740 is one shape in a catalogue that covers the brand far more widely than any single number. Our New Balance pages hold the three-digit classics, the four-digit technical shapes and the made-in-England and made-in-USA pairs, and they are filed next to each other rather than ranked. If the 740 is your first pair from the brand, the honest advice is to look at the shapes beside it in the same session and not later, because what separates them is the sole, the upper and the finish rather than the sizing — and a pair you rule out in five minutes is worth more to you than a pair you buy and then compare against.
Two links are worth keeping. The model hub for the 740 collects every colourway we hold in one page, and the New Balance release calendar is where the pairs that have a date but no shop yet appear first. If a pair you want is on the calendar rather than in a shop, the date you see is the one the marketplaces carry and it moves; check it again rather than trusting this page.
How to use this
- Search by the style code. It is the only field that survives the difference between what one shop calls a colourway and what the next one does.
- Read the version in the name, not in the numbers at the end of the code. A trailing 2 is not a version marker.
- Check the prefix before you check the price: U740, GR740, PZ740 and IZ740 are not the same shoe in different sizes, they are sized for different people.
- For a child, look for bungee lace in the name. That is the pair that does not need to be tied.
- Use the size chart for the brand before you buy a pair in a size you have not worn in it. Half sizes do not sit the same way across models, even within one number.
Each page names the shops that have it and shows today's offers. If nobody has the pair yet, the page says so instead of showing a number that would be wrong by Thursday.
