New Balance

History

In 1906, William J. Riley, British emigrant, founded the New Balance Arch Support Company, manufacturing arch supports and other accessories designed to improve shoe fit in the Boston area. His first product, a flexible arch support, was designed with three support points to provide greater balance and comfort in the shoe. It is believed that Riley came up with the name "New Balance" by observing chickens in his yard and demonstrated the way his arch supports worked by keeping a chicken foot on his office desk. He explained to customers that the chicken's three-pronged foot resulted in perfect balance. In 1927, Riley hired Arthur Hall to be a salesman. In 1934, Hall became a business partner and found his niche by marketing to people whose jobs required them to spend a lot of time standing. In 1956, Hall sold the business to his daughter Eleanor and her husband Paul Kidd.

Eleanor and Paul Kidd continued to sell mainly arch supports until 1960, when they designed and manufactured the "Trackster", the world's first running shoe made with a ripple sole. It was also the first running shoe to come in varying widths. The "Trackster" was given a big boost through the YMCA programs in which it became the unofficial shoe. College track teams such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tufts University and Boston University adopted the New Balance Trackster for their cross-country teams, soon to be followed by other colleges and private high schools around the country.

Marketing was mostly word-of-mouth or local sports fairs. Sales languished until 1972, when current Chairman Jim Davis bought the company on the day of the Boston Marathon. At the time, the company consisted of six people making 30 pairs of shoes daily and selling products mostly through mail-order with a few U.S. retailers. Jim committed himself to uphold the company's traditional commitment to individual preferences, customer service and quality products. His future wife Anne, who joined the company in 1978, focused on building a distinct culture for New Balance employees and customers. Their timing was perfect, as the Boston area became a center for the running boom that struck the U.S. in the 1970s. Their product line expanded and sales grew rapidly. The company prospered, and the Davises looked to expand New Balance into a global company. The company is now run by Rob DeMartini. DeMartini's background includes Procter & Gamble and Gillette Shave Company. Today, 30 percent of the New Balance shoes sold in the European market are manufactured at the New Balance facility in Flimby, England.

In February 2015, the company announced its entry into the global soccer (association football) market. New Balance had started its soccer business through its subsidiary Warrior Sports in 2012, punctuated by a $40 million-a-year sponsorship deal with Liverpool, but made the move to rebrand based on the global reach of the parent brand.

During 2016, New Balance opposed the Trans Pacific Partnership and condemned the Obama administration's support for it, arguing that it would hurt their domestic shoe manufacturing (while Nike, which does not manufacture in the US, supported the TPP). Matt Lebretton, the company's Vice President of public affairs said in April 2016 “I would say that when Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump all agree on something, then it has to be given a closer look; and they all agree that TPP is not the right policy.” After Donald Trump 2016 U.S. presidential election, Lebretton told a reporter “The Obama administration turned a deaf ear to us [about trade] and frankly, with President-elect Trump, we feel things are going to move in the right direction." Some news outlets reported that an ad-hoc boycott campaign was created out of an interpretation of Lebretton's remarks as supportive of Trump. Owner and Chairman Davis donated almost $400,000 to the Trump Victory Committee in September 2016.

New Balance Numeric

In 2013, New Balance launched a skateboarding shoe brand dubbed "New Balance Numeric" that is distributed by Black Box Distribution, a company founded by professional skateboarder Jamie Thomas. Following the announcement of the partnership in December 2012, Thomas stated in an interview with the TransWorld Business publication, "I am most hyped about the positive energy this partnership creates for the future of our distribution as well as how this partnership enables us to further support skate retailers with a new brand they can trust and depend on."

The Numeric brand is overseen by Brand Manager Sebastian Palmer, who was formerly with skate shoe brand eS, while Mike West, of Westlife Distribution and snowboarding brand 686, is Creative Director. West explained at the launch event, "I myself was a sponsored skateboarder back in the late eighties, so, for me, skateboarding is always at my heart, it's something that I bleed in. Same with running, before skateboarding, so it kind of just all came to what we are today, which is New Balance Numeric skateboarding." Palmer explained further at the same event:

New Balance is about doing things right. They are about doing things they wanna do, and following those through. We saw the chance to do something really authentic in a youthful culture that they [New Balance] hadn't really had a presence in before. More than that, they saw an authentic culture that they wanted to be a part of.

The brand also consists of a sponsored team that is co-ordinated by professional skateboarder John Rattray.

Team

Olympic Committees

The company debut on the Olympics stage, dressing the Olympic Council of Ireland at Rio 2016.

Association football

When the company announced its entry into the soccer market in February 2015, it also acquired Warrior Sports' roster of sponsored clubs, including Al-Nassr F.C, Liverpool, Porto, Shamrock Rovers, Sevilla, Seoul E-Land, Junior, O'Higgins, Celtic, and more teams. New Balance keeping in his range even some national teams, that of Costa Rica and Panama; as well as players such as Aaron Ramsey, Kendall Waston, Marouane Fellaini, Tim Cahill and Massimo Luongo. In March 2015, the company revealed their first-ever soccer advertisement, which starred Aaron Ramsey, Álvaro Negredo, Samir Nasri, Jesús Navas, Joe Ledley, Kasper Schmeichel, Mikel San José, Aaron Lennon and Yohan Cabaye.

Since 2016, New Balance sponsors the french team of Lille. The American brand replaced rival Nike as the club's global equipment partner.

Athletics

From 2013, New Balance has seen a big increase in the amount of athletes it sponsors. Noticeable athletes sponsored by the company include Olympian, Stephanie Twell. From 2015, they signed a great young rising star, Trayvon Bromell. New Balance also sponsors athletics teams such as New Zealand and the Antigua and Barbuda national team.

Australian football

New Balance has been the apparel partner of the Australian Football League's (AFL) Melbourne Football Club since 2011. The brand renewed its arrangement with the club for a further three years in December 2013, and again for a further three years in January 2017.

Basketball

The company previously partnered with Matt Bonner of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s San Antonio Spurs, providing him with shoes over a period of several years. James Worthy from the Los Angeles Lakers also used New Balance shoes. During the 2010–11 NBA season, Bonner was sent a prototype for a signature shoe that he was developing with the brand, but the shoes fell apart at the beginning of the game that he first wore them in. After Bonner was informed that the prototype shoes were not meant to be worn, a representative informed him that New Balance was ceasing its sponsorship of basketball.

Cricket

Following the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, New Balance signed a deal with Cricket South Africa that includes the national cricket teams of South Africa . New Balance also sponsor international cricketers - Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Joe Root, Grant Elliott, David Miller, Nic Maddinson, Ben Stokes, Garry Ballance, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Santner, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Dale Steyn, Colin Munro .

Cycling

Following the official launch in July 2011, New Balance is the primary sponsor of Boston's bike share system, the New Balance Hubway. New Balance began a partnership with American professional cycling team Cannondale–Drapac in 2011, providing the team kits as well as their "exclusive off bike athletic footwear" sponsor.

Tennis

New Balance sponsors tennis players Milos Raonic of Canada, Heather Watson of the United Kingdom, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Nicole Gibbs of the United States

Toning footwear

A class action lawsuit against New Balance filed in 2011 alleges that the company's toning footwear touts unproven benefits. In support of its claim of false advertising, it cites a University of Wisconsin–La Crosse research study on Toning Shoes that has been funded and published by the American Council on Exercise.

Researchers reported that there were no "statistically significant increases in either exercise response or muscle activation" as a result of wearing the Toning Shoes. There was no statistically significant difference between participants wearing special "Toning shoes" and controls wearing normal sneakers. The researchers concluded that there is "simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone." However, it was noted that "These shoes may be encouraging a fair number of people who probably wouldn’t put on a normal pair of walking shoes and go out and walk."