![]() New Balance remained tied to its demure roots, preferring a corporate existence in the shadows rather than a more ambitious life as an innovative trendsetter with mass-market appeal. Although New Balance had moved into a promising market, one that offered a greater potential for growth than the market for orthopedic shoes and arch supports, the personality of the company had not changed. No other attempt was made to market the shoe. The majority of Trackster sales were made through mail order purchases from local high schools and colleges. But, like all New Balance models before it, the Trackster enjoyed only a limited customer base. Like its predecessor New Balance models, the Trackster gained a loyal following, winning over wearers who admired the workmanship and tailored fit of the shoes. The Trackster was unique, manufactured in a range of widths ranging from AA to EEEE, which set it apart from all other competing brands. In 1955 the seed flowered, this time under management ’s directive, when New Balance applied its experience in producing specially designed athletic footwear to a new shoe dubbed ‘Trackster, ” a ripple-soled running shoe for men. It also was an entry most likely forced upon the company by special requests from the athletes themselves, rather than arising from management ’s own initiative, but however the diversification originated, its occurrence planted the seed for further involvement. The foray into the athletic market was a pivotal one, moving the company into a business area that years later would provide plenty of fuel to drive its financial growth upwards. One important step in this direction was taken sometime before the 1950s, when New Balance began manufacturing specially designed orthopedic footwear for baseball players and track and field athletes. Widespread notoriety and a worldwide customer base eventually would come New Balance ’s way, but it would take roughly 70 years before the New Balance brand name stormed onto the national stage. Beyond this tight circle, the company was unknown it was a small, Northeastern enterprise blanketed in anonymity. Though the work of the company was held in high regard, there was only a small circle of customers who could profess to the quality of New Balance ’s footwear. About the only notable achievement during the company ’s first half-century of existence was the establishment of a solid reputation, a renown forged by the quality of its specialty shoes and buttressed by decades of consistent high-quality craftsmanship. Like its physical growth, The New Balance Arch Company ’s financial growth occurred at a crawling pace as well, inching nearly imperceptibly forward as the decades passed. Initially, the company manufactured arch supports and orthopedic shoes and, in fact, for much of the 20th century it continued to focus on this narrow, niche-oriented business line, rarely expanding and never moving beyond the boundaries of its native state. New Balance was founded in 1906 in Belmont, Massachusetts, where the company began operations as The New Balance Arch Company. In addition to its lines of footwear, New Balance also produced a variety of athletic apparel. The company ’s five, company-owned manufacturing facilities during the late 1990s were all located in Massachusetts and Maine. New Balance, in contrast to its larger competitors, manufactured nearly all of its footwear in the United States, as opposed to manufacturing its merchandise overseas. manufactures running, hiking, tennis, basketball, and cross-training shoes, offering its footwear in a broad range of width sizes. SICs: 3149 Footwear Except Rubber, Not Elsewhere Classified 3021 Rubber & Plastics FootwearĪ leading second-tier athletic footwear company, New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. Incorporated: 1906 as The New Balance Arch Company ![]()
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