New Balance Expands Custom Made in USA Program with 993, release per NB, note by Larry Eder

New Balance Custom 993, courtesy of NB communications

For a brand to be a success, it must understand its strengths and weaknesses. I like to call that understanding the currency. NB has done amazing things with the Made is USA label and as the brand insures a renaissance with new minimalist shoes, and some new performance shoes, expanding the Made in USA program makes sense. Look at the brands doing well in US at this time, and you will see, that, most importantly, they understand their currencies-the intangibles that the consumer uses to judge the brand. If you do not get how the consumer (and in run specialty, the staffer selling shoes on the floor) looks at your brand, your brand will not succeed. Simple, yet complex. Like a Buddhist koan.

For Shoe Geeks, the Brooks Hyperion Max, great fast ride, great road shoe for the new age…

For Shoe Geeks, the New Balance 1080 Fresh Foam, great ride, great cushioning

Coffee With Larry, Goteborg 1995, My first World Champs, good media relationship, Peachtree Road Race, 60 % of Pre Classic tickets sold in one day!

NEW BALANCE EXPANDS CUSTOM MADE IN USA PROGRAM WITH 993

BOSTON, February
8, 2012
– New Balance announces the addition of the 993 to the brand’s domestic
manufacturing customization program. The program launched in April
2011 with the US574, the first customizable athletic shoe made in the
USA. The 993 and US574 are made at the company’s Norridgewock, Maine
manufacturing facility. Both are timeless running silhouettes are
available exclusively through
http://www.shopnewbalance.com/customize .

“The
New Balance Custom 993 enables you to be the designer and choose from
premium material and color options to personalize your own iconic New
Balance 993, a legendary
style from New Balance,” says Steve Gardner, Strategic Business Unit
Manager for New Balance Lifestyle. “Once you design your 993, our
associates in Norridgewock will use their high quality craftsmanship to
produce it for you.”

NB Custom 993, courtesy of NB communications

There
are twenty areas to customize with your color choices including the
base, mesh, vamp, heel wrap, saddle, tongue and accents. The premium
nubuck leather and suede offered
on the 993 is available in twenty three colors and is individually cut
by New Balance associates now with an option of a leather or reflective
heel tab. The 993 can be personalized with up to eight characters per
shoe stitched on the foxing on the shoe’s
back tab and there are sixteen choices of embroidery thread. The 993
is available for $174.95 plus shipping in men’s sizes 7-12, 13, 14, 15,
16 in widths D and 2E and women’s sizes 5-10, 11, 12, 13 in widths B and
D. The 993 is shipped out within 4-8 business
days of ordering.

New
Balance’s Norridgewock, Maine, manufacturing facility was established
in 1982 and today employs more than 350 associates. As the only
athletic shoe company that currently
manufactures footwear in the U.S., New Balance employs 1,200 associates
across five New England facilities to produce a quarter of the brand’s U.S. footwear shipments each year. Where the domestic
value is at least 70%, the shoe is labeled “Made in USA.”

New
Balance was founded in Boston in 1906 as an arch support company and in
1938 produced the brand’s first pair of running shoes. Please visit
www.newbalance.com/customUS993 for more information about the 993.

About New Balance:
New
Balance, headquartered in Boston, MA has the following mission:
Demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that
athletes are proud to wear, associates
are proud to create and communities are proud to host. New Balance is
currently the only athletic shoe company that manufactures footwear in
the U.S. with 25% of our U.S. footwear shipments produced at five New
England facilities. The company also operates
a manufacturing facility in Flimby, U.K. New Balance employs more than
4000 associates around the globe, and in 2010 reported worldwide sales
of $1.78 billion. To learn more about how New Balance Makes Excellent
Happen, please visit
http://www.newbalance.com.

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 50-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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