New Balance × CAYL TRN “Slate Grey / Silver Metallic” Rel

The Korean outdoor label’s second run with New Balance’s Fresh Foam Trainer trades mesh for ripstop and adds a shimmer of metallic silver.

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• Overview
• Design and Materials
• About CAYL
• Release Details and Avail

New Balance and South Korean outdoor label CAYL continued their ongoing collision this spring with the CAYL x New Balance TRN in “Slate Grey / Silver Metallic,” a reworked take on New Balance’s Fresh Foam Trainer sil. Styled under code UTRNCA, the pair released on March 13, 2026, as part of a two-shoe drop alongside a CAYL-branded Minimus Trail, positioned by New Balance as a “Performance Pack” built around trail-ready, weather-conscious design.

The TRN itself borrows its base shape from the turn-of-the-millennium runner aesthetic New Balance has leaned into across several recent Fresh Foam releases, but CAYL’s version swaps in a ripstop build and metallic detailing that push the silhouette closer to the brand’s own outdoor-technical identity than a typical retro runner reissue.

New Balance’s outdoor-adjacent convincer roster has grown steadily in recent years, and CAYL has become one of the more consistent names in that rotation rather than a one-off partner. The Slate Grey TRN arrived as one half of a two-shoe capsule — paired with a Minimus Trail in a Black Ink colorway — that New Balance framed around trail readiness and weather resistance rather than pure lifestyle styling, a framing consistent with how CAYL has approached its outdoor apparel more broadly.

 

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Where the standard Fresh Foam Trainer typical uses an open-mesh upper, CAYL’s version replaces that base with a ripstop nylon construction, giving the shoe a grey grid-textured surface in place of the usual mesh weave. Layered on top are metallic silver overlays across the heel counter, side wall, and toe cap, adding a shimmering finish that stands out against the otherwise muted slate grey base — a detail echoed in the colorway’s official name. Synthetic overlays and a TPU film mudguard reinforce the toe and lower panels, while a padded collar and co-branded mesh tongue carry New Balance and CAYL lockups, with additional branding on the insoles and heel.

Underfoot, the shoe runs on New Balance’s Fresh Foam X midsole for lightweight cushion, paired with a rubber outsole finished in a matching dark colorway. Flat cotton laces round out the build, keeping the overall look closer to a technical trail shoe than the brand’s more casual lifestyle sneakers, in keeping with CAYL’s outdoor-first design approach.

That ripstop-over-mesh substitution is worth dwelling on, since it’s become something of a throughline across CAYL’s various New Balance projects rather than a treatment unique to this one release. Ripstop nylon is built with a reinforced grid weave designed to resist tearing and abrasion, a construction more commonly associated with technical outerwear and packs than with running-inspired lifestyle sneakers. Using it here in place of the TRN’s usual open-mesh upper shifts the shoe’s practical character somewhat: it trades some of the breathability of standard mesh for added durability and a small degree of weather resistance, better suited to CAYL’s stated positioning of gear that moves between trail and city use. The metallic silver overlays, meanwhile, function mostly as a view l counterpoint to that ripstop texture — a reflective, almost technical-looking finish set against an otherwise flat, grid-patterned base.

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CAYL — an acronym for “Climb As You Love” — is a South Korean outdoor brand founded in 2011 by Euijae Lee, built around the country’s long-standing culture of climbing, bouldering, hiking, and trail running. The brand has built its reputation on functional, technical outdoor gear designed to move fluidly between mountain use and city wear, a positioning that’s made it a natural fit for collider work with show-driven footwear brands.

This isn’t CAYL’s first collaboration with New Balance — the two have worked together since at least 2021, including a prior run of New Balance 1906R colorways in 2024 that similarly used a ripstop build in place of standard mesh. The Slate Grey TRN continues that same material approach on a different silhouette, suggesting the ripstop treatment has become something of a recurring signature across CAYL’s New Balance collaborations rather than a one-off design choice.

CAYL’s broader catalog extends well beyond footwear collaborations, encompassing technical outerwear, bags, and accessories built around the brand’s core climbing, bouldering, and trail-running focus. The brand has picked up international stockists over the past several years — including END., and a handful of European specialty retailers — position it as one of the more visible South Korean outdoor labels on the global streetwear-adjacent market, alongside the country’s broader recent rise as a source of technical, design-forward outdoor apparel.

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• Sil: New Balance Fresh Foam Trainer (TRN)
• Collider: CAYL
• Colorway: Slate Grey / Silver Metallic / Black
• Style Code: UTRNCA
• Release Date: March 13, 2026

The pair released via New Balance’s own site and a small number of retail partners, including Kith,, Slam Jam, and END. As of this render, the style is listed as sold out directly on NewBalance.com, though it remains available through some of those retail partners and on the resale market. Given the limited nature of the initial release — New Balance capped online orders to one pair per customer, with some retailers limiting to two — restocks are not guaranteed, and interested buyers should check current retailer listings directly rather than assume avail.