New Balance’s Niobium Series 3 Boot Is an Earthy Trekker

It's officially snow boot season, and New Balance isn't letting UGG have all the fun.

The running shoe brand has no problem stepping outside of its sneaker-yielding box to churn out some funky silhouettes (See: The ever-contentious New Balance loafer). So it should hardly come as a surprise that New Balance also has a ruggedly charming snow boot.

The New Balance Niobium Concept 3 has a terrain-gripping outsole that's serving space cadet realness. The upper is a tale in two parts, built out with a dual-layer construction, including a removable water-repellent inner boot and waterproof exterior shell.

So if your ideal day off includes rainy trails or nippy camping trips, this is the boot for you.

The Niobium Concept 3 comes from the New Balance's Tokyo Design Studio, responsible for other subversive New Balance releases, including the sole-ridged New Balance 574 derby.

If these tech-y boots look familiar, last year, New Balance teamed up with Snow Peak to create the TDS Niobium Concept 3, another hard-wearing snowboot dipped in signature New Balance flavor.

While the TDS Niobium Concept 3 sports a menacingly icy white outer, the Niobium Concept 3 is an earth-toned wonder that's curiously warm-hued for such a cold-weather-ready boot. But that Martian-esque duality is part of its charm.

Other than that, New Balance's collab with Snow Peak is a bar-for-bar structural match to the new Niobium Concept 3, so snow boot enthusiasts far and wide now have a couple of flavors to choose from.