New Balance

The story of New Balance shoes dates back to 1906, when an English entrepreneur by the name of William J. Riley started to create, design, and manufacture shoe accessories. Riley's business performed modestly, and he teamed up in 1934 with Arthur Hall to sell shoes to policemen, salesmen, and other people who had to spend long periods of time standing on their feet.This shoe company made its way into the hands of Jim Davis in 1972. When Jim Davis purchased New Balance, the company was comprised of just half a dozen people, who were manufacturing fewer than 30 pairs of sneakers a day. Through innovation, hard work, and adept business savvy, Davis was able to grow this small firm into one of the largest shoe manufacturing companies in Europe and, indeed, in all the world.New Balance today takes in gross earnings of approximately one billion dollars and provides jobs to more than 2,000 people around the world. The company also maintains five large plants in the United States, including three plants in Maine.What sets New Balance apart from other running shoes, walking shoes, or athletic shoe brands is the company's commitment to ergonomics. New Balance employs specialty width sizing to get better fits. New Balance has also implemented a number of technologies, such as the Rollbar Stability System, the Stability Web, Abzorb (a shock dampening system), and the Walking Strike Path. Indeed, New Balances has made a science out of studying the gait cycle and then engineering shoes to meet the functional needs of consumers.