New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc., best known as simply New Balance, is a footwear manufacturer based in Boston. It was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch Support Company. Eschewing expensive advertising campaigns, it has nevertheless grown to be one of the largest makers of sports footwear in the world.
New Balance is notable in that it has continued to maintain a manufacturing presence in the United States (as of 2009) as well as in the United Kingdom for the European market--in contrast to its competitors in the same market space, such as Nike and Adidas, who purchase designs from manufacturers in China, Vietnam, and other developing nations. The result of this corporate decision is that the shoes tend to be more expensive than New Balance's competitors. To offset this pricing discrepancy, New Balance offers technical innovations that the other brands do not, such as a blend of gel inserts, heel counters, and greater selection of sizes, particularly for very narrow and/or very wide widths.
Shoes
New Balance is one of few shoe manufacturers to offer the majority of its shoes in a wide range of widths, typically men's range from B to 6E with 3 other widths in between (D, 2E, 4E) and one narrower offering (2A). Women's range from 4A to 4E with four widths to choose from in between (2A, B, D, 2E).
New Balance does not give names to the shoes it sells, instead referring to them by a 2, 3, or 4 digit model number. This is done to "place an emphasis on the New Balance philosophy, not any one particular shoe". When a shoe is redesigned, the model number is increased by one. It is unknown to the general public what the number scheme actually stands for, and assigned numbers change frequently due to redesigns.
