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New Balance history
New Balance company history timeline
In 1906, William J. Riley, an Irish immigrant, founded the New Balance Arch Support Company (registered as New Balance Arch Support Company, Inc. and later registered as New Balance Arch Co., Inc.) in the Boston area, manufacturing arch supports and other accessories designed to improve shoe fit.
In 1927, Riley hired Arthur Hall to be a salesman.
In 1934, Hall became a business partner.
In 1954, Arthur Hall sold the business to his daughter and son-in-law, Eleanor and Paul Kidd.
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.
Arch supports and prescription footwear remained the cornerstone of their business until 1961 when they manufactured The Trackster, the world’s first performance running shoe made with a ripple sole and available in multiple widths.
Amid the sweeping passion for running appeared a collection of new magazines that catered to the jogging enthusiast, one of which was Runner's World, which in 1975 published its first annual supplement that rated the leading running shoes.
1975: A new model, the 320, is worn by Tom Fleming during his winning run in the Boston marathon.
In the first issue, New Balance placed third, an encouraging result in itself, but the following year, in October 1976, the New Balance 320 was judged to be the best running shoe in the world, with two other New Balance entries placing third and seventh.
When Anne Davis began her journey with New Balance in 1978, her focus became building a superior culture for NB associates and those who do business with the company around the globe.
His future wife Anne, who joined the company in 1978, focused on building a distinct culture for New Balance employees and customers.
The 991 drops and is the latest model in the legendary 99x series that first launched in 1982.
By 1982, a decade after Davis acquired a $100,000-a-year-in-sales company, New Balance was collecting $60 million a year in sales, with its future prospects as bright as they had been during the previous six years.
New Balance release their delayed M1400 shoes, which was originally designed to be released straight after the M1300 in 1985.
Having not been as popular as expected at its original launch in 1988, New Balance reissue the 576 and the model is featured on the cover of Elle Magazine, helping the 576 to gain popularity in the fashion world.
By 1988, New Balance introduced another mind-blowing design of sneaker and coded it with 574.
In 1991, as sales approached $100 million and profitability returned, Davis set aside $2 million for new equipment, spreading the investment over two years.
In 1993 $3 million was earmarked for high-technology equipment such as automated cutting and vision-stitching machines.
Revenues in 1995 were up to $380 million and successful forays into apparel and a variety of athletic footwear niches had been completed.
Toward this end, the company made encouraging progress in 1997, when sales increased to more than $550 million.
New Balance was up 15 percent from their profits in 1997.
In June 1998 New Balance made its first offering in the private placement market.
Come September 1998 New Balance purchased the Dunham brand name and prepared to launch into the business of boots, specifically outdoor, hunting, work, and sports boots.
By the end of 1998 New Balance had transformed into one of the top five players in athletic footwear.
Throughout 1998 athletic shoes were in a near universal slump, and all companies that produced them save Adidas and New Balance were losing money.
In March 1999 the company launched a new marketing campaign for their kids line of athletic shoes on Nickelodeon.
January 2000 saw two important additions to the company: a California manufacturing plant employing 250, and a new president and chief operating officer, Jim Tompkins, a vice-president with New Balance, who reported directly to CEO Davis.
In fall of 2000 New Balance seemed poised to achieve some success with a new line of apparel.
By 2001, a new design of New Balance sneaker was released, and it was numbered 991.
By 2003, the company was ranked third among athletic shoe manufacturers, capturing an 11 percent share of the market.
In February 2004, the company acquired lacrosse equipment manufacturer Warrior and became a sponsor of major league lacrosse in the United States.
2004: New Balance becomes a sponsor of major league lacrosse and purchases a manufacturer of lacrosse equipment.
Sales: $ 1.3 billion (2004 est.)
Together, Anne and Jim lead New Balance with fidelity on its mission to become the world’s leading manufacturer of high performance footwear and apparel. © 2006 New Balance
The shoe has proven hugely popular over the years and has been the focus of a number of collabs, including the New Balance X Norse Projects edition released in 2009.
The 990 'Made In USA' shoes are specially made before his 2012 re-election campaign to demonstrate the importance of local industries in America.
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.
In February 2015, the company announced its entry into the global soccer (association football) market.
Owner and Chairman Davis donated almost $400,000 to the Trump Victory Committee in September 2016.
In 2017 New Balance released a reworked version, the 574S.
In February 2019, the company released its first Kawhi Leonard-signature sneaker, named OMN1S.
The company was run by Rob DeMartini for 12 years until 2019 when he left to join USA cycling.
Later on, the UK High Court rejected the legal filling of New Balance against the Liverpool's UK£70 million+ kit deal with Nike, which come into force in January 2020 and staggered the Manchester United deal with Adidas for £75 million annually.
In March 2020, the company announced that it would be converting some of its manufacturing facilities in New England to produce face masks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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New Balance competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurley | 1979 | $99.0M | 660 | 8 |
| Converse | 1908 | $1.9B | 4,407 | 3 |
| Ski World | - | $560,000 | 5 | - |
| Super Runners Shop | 1978 | $2.0M | 14 | - |
| The Home Store | 1986 | $1.7B | 6,289 | 212 |
| CITY Furniture | 1971 | $260.0M | 1,500 | 123 |
| Linder’s Furniture | - | - | - | - |
| Carr Hardware | 1928 | $36.8M | 50 | - |
| Blue Mountain Vineyard | 1971 | $284.9K | 5 | - |
| Mor Furniture for Less | 1977 | $120.0M | 600 | 42 |
New Balance history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of New Balance, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about New Balance. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at New Balance. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by New Balance. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of New Balance and its employees or that of Zippia.
New Balance may also be known as or be related to New Balance, New Balance Arch Support Company and New Balance Athletic Shoe Company and New Balance Inc.