New Balance
| New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Incorporated |
| founding | 1906 |
| Seat |
Boston , Massachusetts , United States
|
| management | James Davis, Robert DeMartini (CEO) |
| Number of employees | 5,000 (2015) |
| sales | € 3.4 billion |
| Branch | Sports shoes and sportswear |
| Website | www.newbalance.com |
New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. ( NBAS ) is an American sporting goods manufacturer based in Boston , Massachusetts . The company was founded in 1906 under the name New Balance Arch Support Company .
history
The New Balance Arch Support Company was founded in Boston in 1906 by the 33-year-old English immigrant William J. Riley. Initially the company manufactured orthopedic insoles . In 1934, Arthur Hall, the company's best salesman to date (selling products primarily to police officers and workers), was promoted to partner with Riley. In 1956 Hall sold the company to his daughter Eleanor and her husband Paul Kidd.
The Kidd couple continued to sell orthopedic insoles until 1960. Then came a milestone in the history of New Balance: Eleanor and Paul designed and produced the “Trackster”, the world's first running shoe with a wave-shaped sole, which was manufactured in different widths. The "Trackster" got a big boost from the YMCA program, of which it was the unofficial shoe. College track teams like that at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tufts University, and Boston University used the New Balance Trackster for their cross-country teams, soon followed by other colleges and private high schools across the country.
Initially, marketing consisted almost entirely of word of mouth or local sporting goods fairs. That all changed when the company's current chairman, Jim Davis, bought the company in 1972, exactly on the day of the Boston Marathon . At the time, New Balance consisted of six people who made 30 pairs of shoes a day. A year later, Davis caught up with the running press to educate them about New Balance, and in 1978 Jim's wife Anna joined the company. The next big change came in the 1970s: the Boston area became the hotbed of a downright running boom that spread throughout the United States in the 1970s. Jim and Anna expanded the line and sales skyrocketed. Davis also set up a network of independent sales representatives in the US and overseas, which started international sales. In 2004, New Balance donated a memorial to Stylianos Kyriakides , the 1946 Boston Marathon winner who helped popularize running.
Today New Balance has more than 5,000 employees worldwide. The products are sold in 120 countries on all continents. The company has subsidiaries in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, South Africa and Brazil. New Balance operates five plants in the USA (two in Massachusetts and three in Maine) and one in Great Britain (Flimby), but China has also become a production location.
In addition to athletics, New Balance is also increasing its activities and sponsorship in professional football. In February 2015, the company announced its entry into the global soccer market. New Balance started its football business through its subsidiary Warrior Sports in 2012 with a $ 40 million deal with Liverpool FC .
In the 2015/16 season, the European first division clubs FC Porto , FC Sevilla , Celtic Glasgow , Stoke City and Liverpool FC and, from 2016/2017, Lechia Danzig with the NB logo on their jerseys. The final of the UEFA Europa League on May 18, 2016 was played by two New Balance teams: Liverpool FC and Sevilla FC (result 1: 3).
New Balance has been a partner of the New York Road Runners organization since 2017 and has sponsored numerous running events in New York City , including the New York City Marathon .
At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, New Balance equipped two national soccer teams for the first time : the national teams of Costa Rica and Panama .
image
In German-speaking countries, the brand was associated with neo-Nazis . The sewn N on the shoes is said to have been interpreted by them as an abbreviation for national . The company responded in 2006 with a delivery freeze to stores that were assigned to this scene and an advertising campaign specially tailored to athletes.
The brand is widespread among organized football fans ( ultras ) regardless of political views.
Steve Jobs was known for wearing his black Issey Miyake turtleneck sweaters and 501 Levi's for his gray 991 New Balance athletic shoes.
Web links
- German homepage of the company
- New Balance in Germany: "The Stand Up Man" (brand eins, 02/2012)
Individual evidence
- ↑ manager-magazin.de: These underdogs are challenging Adidas and Nike (June 13, 2018) , accessed on October 11, 2019
- ↑ netzeitung.de New Balance does not want a Nazi image ( Memento from May 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Steve Jobs And His New Balance 991 Shoes - CounterKicks ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: counterkicks.com
