Domestic manufacturing has been part of New Balances heritage since 1938 when they produced their first pair of running shoes. Since then the company has grown from 6 employees crafting 30 pairs of shoes daily to 1,300 employees crafting 19,000 pairs of shoes daily. Despite the bucking trend of companies moving their operations offshore, New Balance remains as one of the only athletic shoe manufacturers in the United States.
This investment in manufacturing has allowed New Balance to continue producing their timeless and classic silhouettes like the 998, and 1300 in such great detail, starting from the use of materials down to the detailing that goes into every last stitch. Which brings me to the two shoes before you. The M1300LG with its mostly grey upper featuring a textile mix of mesh, nubuck, along with the trademark ‘N’ highlighted in navy, and the M998BR with its tonal black upper that utilizes a mixture of premium leathers, suedes and wax canvas accents, amidst and contrasting white midsole with red highlights.
Both silhouettes are perfect examples of the timeless design, and attention to detail that the New Balance ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ range represent. I’ll let the images do the rest of the talking, so make sure you head on over after the jump for all of the finer details of both silhouettes…
