New Balance was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1906 as a manufacturer of arch supports and orthopedic insoles. They began making custom running shoes in the 1940s and eventually expanded into a nationwide athletic shoe and sportswear company in the 1970s. New Balance quickly earned a reputation for high quality products and won a loyal following of athletes and customers who wear shoes featuring built-in supports. Most New Balance shoes were made in the United States until the 1990s when the company offshored the production of some models to China in an effort to compete with the larger sportswear companies selling imported shoes at lower price points. Nevertheless, one out of every four pairs of New Balance shoes sold in North America are still manufactured in Massachusetts.
In 2016, a company executive publicly criticized the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a bad trade agreement negotiated by the Obama Administration with Asian countries which allowed for the importation of goods from the Orient free from tariffs. The TPP deal would have put American manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage and was opposed by both Democrats and Republicans, but only conservatives were accused of racism for speaking out against it. The same executive also angered leftists by giving his personal endorsement for U.S. President to Donald J. Trump. Later, it was revealed that the Owner and Chairman of New Balance, Jim Davis, had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a political action committee supporting Trump. Then the Far-Right website The Daily Stormer and its founder, Andrew Anglin, proclaimed New Balance to be the “official shoe of white people.” Media outlets reported this unsolicited endorsement aggressively and spun their narrative attempting to link the Trump Campaign with white supremacism. All of which led to leftists, blacks, and even national retailers to threaten a boycott of the brand.
Rather than standing their ground and leaning on their legacy as an American manufacturer, New Balance buckled under and has been pandering to blacks and an assortment of spiteful mutants ever since. The sad thing about it is that no amount of public appeasement and humiliation during struggle sessions, nor endorsements of overpaid colored athletes and celebrities, will ever enable New Balance to take black consumers away from Nike or Hispanic consumers away from Adidas any more than Trump’s shameless and tireless pandering to minorities will improve his chances of being re-elected. Pathetically, New Balance announced that they will strive to hire more colored employees and formed an internal focus group called “the black soles” who work on social justice programs and conduct black community organization on behalf of the company.
Consequently, many those of us who have supported New Balance with fanatical brand loyalty over the last fifty years have felt betrayed and taken for fools. However, we still support the company just because we do not have any better options for affordable athletic shoes of the highest quality offered in such a variety of sizes and widths. Hopefully, New Balance will come to their senses, forget politically correct trends, and get back to doing what they do best – making shoes in the United States.
-By John S.
O I’m a good old rebel, now that’s just what I am. For this “fair land of freedom” I do not care at all. I’m glad I fit against it, I only wish we’d won, And I don’t want no pardon for anything I done.
I quit wearing NB shoes about 10 years ago. Switched over to Brooks due to quality issues from NB. I’m kind of a footwear snob but not in the sense of brand loyalty for expensive stuff. I like what feels and looks good and lasts. If Joe Biden himself made Solomon GTX 4D’s I would still buy them cause they kick ass! Same for Thorogood and Danner.
Was a (Mëtal Aerobix) instructor for decades and swore by Avia for high-impact aerobics – until they quit making them in my size. Last year I finally found a replacement worthy of filling their shoes (pun intended): Rykäs.
I’d never heard of the company but Prime offered me a 10-day Try Before You Buy. So I did. Love them and will buy again. Like Avia, they are not cheap but you should never, ever skimp on footwear when you are engaged in activities such walking, running, or aerobicising.
It’s all about shock absorption, something no other shoe manufacturer aside from Avia, has gotten right. (Side-by-side comparison: https://m2labs.wordpress.com/2023/09/12/metal-aerobix-ruled/)
1. Good article.
2. It’s not “New balance,” per say. It’s all the brainwashed woketards coming out of hijacked universities into ALL corporatedom.
Solution(s) ?
1. Surely there’s a person, group or family out there that wants to get rich creating THE best running shoe in the world and keep manufacturing in the south … keep the company private and as lily white as possible and only hire conservatives. Oh, and make all employees have to go through “unwoke training.”
2. CSA II