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New Balence is founded
Irish immigrant William J. Riley founds New Balance Arch Support Company in Boston, MA. Small company with about 6 workers. The company sells orthopedic footwear, and specialized arch supports -
Riley hires Authur Hall
Author Hall was hired as the first salesman for New Balance Arch Support Company. New Balance was not sold in retail stores yet. So he became a traveling salesman for the company. This helped build a local audience around New Balance, and people started to look their way -
Specialized Sports Footwear
New Balance expands its products with footwear designed for tennis, boxing, and baseball. The company still wasn't big, shoes were made by a small team -
The "Trackster"
This was the first official New Balance athletic shoe. Made at home by the Kidds (the wife of the family was the daughter of the first New Balance salesman Authur Hall), it was the first running shoe with different width fittings. This gained the attention of the upcoming running community -
Jim Davis Buys New Balence
This was a pivotal moment for the company. This new leadership and management he put forth changed the company as a whoole -
320s Release
This shoe launches and is the first New Balance shoe to feature the iconic "N" logo. With these shoes they started to use unique model numbers so customers see different shoes for different purposes. The number defined the shoe type and what activity it was made for -
First Ever Clothes
They introduced mesh tops, shorts, and nylon. They also introduced Gore-Tex running suits -
New Balence 420s
The 420 iconic model was released with a new combination of suede, nylon upper, and foam midsole. A month later New Balance opened its first UK factory and introduced the "hi-tech" 990s. The price barrier was now $100 for the first time -
New Balance 574s
Arguably the most famous New Balance shoe even to this day. After their release, you just had to have them. They skyrocketed into stardom, even in international cities such as Tokyo, where the rise of streetwear was emerging. New Balance began producing many different colorways -
"Dad" Shoe?
New Balance seemed to emerge as a "dad shoe". The company productized comfortability and people often resonated it with monotone colors. Those were the popular colors. Naturally, people started to group them with dads, especially with the release of the 990s. The simplicity and classiness of New Balance gained them that title -
NB X Offspring
This was the first official collaboration of New Balance. They dropped a collection of shoes. Each shoe represented an Offspring (a European-based clothing company) store in London. This paved the way for many popular New Balance collaborations today such as Bape, and Aime Leon Dore. -
Obama "MADE IN USA" 990s
New Balance started to focus on sustainability and production. Campaign of Obama's 2nd re-election, New Balance highlighted the importance of local industries. They emphasized the importance of New Balance shoe manufacturing in the United States -
NOW
Today New Balance has a wide range of shoe models. It's a brand known for comfortability and perfect quality. They endorse the best of the best. New Balance is a household name and probably the most popular shoe to have at this current time