New Balance has kicked off the start of their annual program, Lace Up For A Cure which runs from May 1 to November 30, 2005. If you make a purchase of $25 or more from the New Balance Pink Ribbon Collection and a $5 donation will be made to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Well, I’ll just pass this on to you. I don’t know what to say about this?

New Balance Slashed in hockey-spy case

A new way of thinking is what brought on a radical change in manufacturing in New Balance’s Norridgewock plant. It has been a revolutionary change and very successful.

New Balance is in the unique position of being the only athletic shoemaker still manufacturing a portion of its inventory in the United States.

Jim Davis states in this article from
Maine Biz: “We will do it in all the plants,” he says, “and if it continues to be successful, we’ll be able to bring more shoes onshore from China to the U.S., which will be a first.”

Wow, so that is the real goal and a salute to Jim Davis and New Balance for going the extra mile to manufacture in the USA!!!

New Balance models made in the USA

"Where did you spend the most on athletic shoes in the past four weeks?"

Retail Forward Inc., a market research firm that tracks consumers' habits, asked shoppers.

Its findings: discount stores, 21 percent; value department stores, including Sears, 9.9 percent; shoe stores, 22.3 percent; sporting goods stores, 4.4 percent; traditional department stores, 3.3 percent; and other retailers, 39.1 percent.

I would guess that the 39.1 percent, other retailers, was online stores.

So, where do you spend the most on athletic shoes?

I would shop at a shoe store if I needed a new pair because I would want a good fitting. I would shop online if I was purchasing a model I already have or a similar model because I find better deals online, especially after price searching at www.shopping.com.

He just wanted to do it….

He ran an average of 28 miles a day….
He ran every day for 105 days without a day off….
He wore out 14 pairs of running shoes….
He was running for so long that his favorite New Balance running shoe was discontinued….
In the end, he had to relieve the pressure of his feet, so he cut open the sides of his running shoes….


And why did he do it? Would you?

New arrival, a definite to survive summer. New Balance sports sandals. I'll just make one comment about these very comfortable slip on sports sandals: You gotta have them!!!

Walking in his New Balance shoes from Tijuana to San Fransico this inspiring story
is food for the soul. This story about Thomas Kline makes you want to go out and start walking.

I have seen it on the streets of New York city and other big cities many times. They bring you to the back behind the curtains for the good stuff: Conterfeit Coach handbags, Louis Vuitton handbags. Good stuff. No bigger compliment than someone wanting to copy you, it says that you are the best. I suppose New Balance would rather show the world that in another way. But hey, without that New Balance technology it’s just another shoe, labels only go so far.

But greed may be what motivates a Chinese company named New Barlun? Said in Chinese, New Barlun sounds the same as New Balance. They have shoes, shoeboxes for their New Barlun shoes, and even layouts of their stores that are almost identical to the American New Balance. New Barlun even franchises the business like New Balance does. With stores that open and close so fast, it makes it really hard to investigate who owns them. Even the catalogues looks the same, with New Barlun claiming, ”Made in the USA” on some of the identical models that look like New Balance.

Back in January New Balance had announced that they had, together with Chinese officials of the provincial AIC (Administration for Industry and Commere) offices, confiscated counterfeit athletic shoes under the name “New Barlun” in China.

For some it is easy to tell the difference between New Balance and New Barlun. According to this
article pairs of a model that were similar from both New Balance and New Barlun were given to Kenyan marathon champion Henry Wanyoike who is blind to see if he knew which shoe was New Balance. He picked it out right away.

However, Many US companies are very anxious about the counterfeit goods being exported around the world and most definitely here into the U.S. market.

Joe Preston, vice president international and Asia-Pacific for New Balance, believes that the Chinese consumer is savvier than we give them credit for. As he quotes in this
article: "New Balance is a performance athletic brand with its foundation based on technology so the more we can educate the consumer on what the real New Balance is, the easier it is for them to make the differentiation between New Balance and a counterfeit."

Recently China was added to its priority watch list for "unacceptable levels of counterfeiting and piracy." With many U.S. corporations urging the Bush administration to take China to task at the World Trade Organization –but that may cause a big strain between Washington and Beijing. China does take the piracy and counterfeiting laws very seriously.

New Balance is very concerned. It filed a lawsuit against Qiuzhi Sports Good, who they believe is the owner of New Barlun.

The Bay State Games and New Balance are doing their part to promote and recognize acts of good sportsmanship during the Bay State Summer Games, from July 14-24. The Bay State Games take place in Boston and Central Mass. The games are held annually by the Massachusetts Amateur Sports Foundation. The Bay State Summer Games are an Olympic-Style Sports Festival.

Participants not only have a chance to participate in their sport, they can also participate in any of the other competitions that the Games offer. During the events a program called the Bay State Games/New Balance Sportsmanship Initiative will be held. What this program will do is reward participants for good sportsmanship.

How is this done? For the individual athletes, his or her sportsmanship is judged on their behavior. For team sports, attitudes of coach, athletics and team parents are all judged.

This is yet another way that New Balance is working to promote sportsmanship for athletics.

Some other ways New Balance promotes sportsmanship.

Did you know that you are able to go to the New Balance site and find the right product for you? It is a product recommender for New Balance footwear.
It will ask you questions like: What are you looking for? What kind of activity will you wear this shoe? It will ask your size and width. It will ask about surface you run on, how many days that you run, mileage, average pace. It will also ask pronation questions. What type of arch you have, flat, average, high? Then they will ask your weight. Now do we really want to answer that one???

Once you answer all these questions, you will be shown the results. What a great way to narrow down to what shoe is best for you.

Give it a try.

Want to buy a pair. If you shop at this site, use this discount code
and you'll get an extra 10% off your order.

New Balance has been one of the best supporters of the Maine 5K Series for for two years. Now New Balance will be a major supporter which will change the title of the series to the Maine Games/New Balance 5K Race Series.
New Balance Sponsor Maine 5K Series

Races

The New Balance walking shoe, the 843 is now available in black in both Men MW843BK and Women
WW843BK models. The 843 has advanced technology especially the ROLLBAR and TPU Medial Post. These features provide exceptional stability and pronation control. What is great about the 843 is it has ABZORB all over, in the forefoot and in the heel which is a very cushioned shoe.

MW843BK

WW843BK

Still wearing his New Balance 991's, the Governor of Arakansas Mike Huckabee has now written a book after his 100 plus weight loss.
It is called:
Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork, A 12-Stop Program to End Bad Habits and Begin a Healthy Lifestyle.
Here are the
12 steps.


Governor of Arkansas outfitted in New Balance Shoes runs in Marathon

Maybe it's not your thing. Maybe running on the street or on the tread mill is more your thing. But trail running is a great sport for Spring. Getting outside, running through the woods, looking at the birds and flowers. I just love the feeling, the calming and peaceful feeling I get when I am close to nature.

Want to try trail running? If you take some
safety precautions, you’ll love it.

The main thing from my experience is to make sure you have a great trail running shoe that supports the foot. Competitor's Magazine just reviewed some different brands of trail running shoes, one being
New Balance 871OR.

So keep your feet stable and head for the hills!

The
New Balance 742 is the Official shoe of the Live Your Best Life Tour.
Now, if you whisper to it in just the right way, it takes off to help you Live Your Best Life that’s just what I heard, shhhh!!! Hear the whisper!

Missed Oprah yesterday? Yesterday, Oprah’s dog, Sophie, was counseled by the Dog Whisperer to help her learn to Live her best doggy life!!!

Okay that’s it, I’ll let go of the Oprah Live Your Best Life Tour. I thought that it was going to be an experience of a life time. Yes, I have to admit, last year, I attended the Live Your Best Life Tour in Tampa. I thought I would be changed. That Oprah had the magic formula to help me live my best life. I left feeling complete expect for one question that I still wish to ask Oprah:

What was the recipe for the catered lunch? It was awesome!!!

Well, maybe you didn't get tickets to Oprah's Live Your Best Life Tour but you may want to enter the Walk Your Best Walk Sweepstakes. Tell New Balance why you love to walk and enter for the chance to win $1,000 in New Balance products.
Check it out at the New Balance website.

Other related blogs:
Shoe Fittings at Oprah’s Live Your Best Life Tour
New Balance Sponsors Oprah's Live Your Best Life Tour

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there.

Exercise reduces stress and we all know mom's are stressed. So make a promise to yourself to put on your New Balance shoes this week and do something for yourself. Walk, run or head to the gym. It is the best gift that you could give yourself, not to add a more energetic and happy Mom to the kids.

Many department stores sell various name brands such as New Balance, Reebok, Sketchers and Adidas. Nike was once a presence in Sears but no more. Nike will no longer sell it’s shoes in Sears. Kmart has bought Sears, now Nike won’t sell to Sears. Perhaps afraid that selling to Sears may devalue their product if it shows up in their Kmart stores according to this
article.

Retail observers have different opinions as to why Nike would bail out of selling to the nation’s third-biggest retailer. I personally think Nike has found a new outlet for their lower priced Nike shoes.

According to this
article, Nike has made it’s debut to Wal-Mart Stores. However, trademark swoosh won’t be found anywhere. The shoes engineered by Nike will bear the Starter name.

So, if you want to buy New Balance at Sear’s or Kohl’s they will bear the New Balance name but will have different models numbers than in the regular New Balance line.

For instance, the
New Balance® 399 Cross Trainers
at Kohl’s are made up by New Balance just for Kohl’s and yes these shoes will be at a price below the New Balance shoes seen at an authorized New Balance store. They also may not have the same technology and comfort, but that is for your feet to know!

Did you know that the New Balance 900 series is 20 years old?

Check out the New Balance time line of history for some other interesting facts about New Balance.

New Balance 991... The original classic

Many people are running for a cure for cancer. We have the
Susan Komen Race For The Cure 5K Series,
The American Cancer Society Relay for Life and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training®.

Now even a Kentucky Derby entry is running for more than roses. Afleet Alex, who is among one of the favorites to win the Kentucky Derby on Saturday will be running for a cure! Part of his earnings will be donated to Alex's Lemonade Stand, a children's cancer charity.

Read this wonderful story!

Well, email's keep coming in looking for the New Balance 765's. Sorry, these babies are gone, none to be found.
I was a wearer of the 765's. I am the first to admit that I don’t like when there is an upgrade to a model that I wear. I have such horrible feet and it is so hard for me to find something that doesn’t bother me when I try on new shoes. Sometimes I will buy 3 or 4 pairs of a discontinued model to keep me going for awhile just in case the upgrade doesn’t cut it for me. However, I was hearing such great reviews of update of the 765 that I decided to just wait to see what the 766's would do for me.

Recently, I have been having problems with my ankle swelling after running. This was an old injury that I had from stepping off the edge of the side walk and twisting my ankle. It was a number of year’s ago and it is definitely my weak area. When my shoes begin to wear out the ankle swelling is the first indicator that it is time to replace my shoes. But this new 766 is wonderful. There wasn’t any transition period with these shoes. I put them on and immediately felt great. My ankle is no longer swollen and my feet are happy.

Oh yeah, I must also admit I went up a ½ size this time, which may have added to my comfort level. I just turned 40 and well, like I have said numerous times, we need to get our feet fitted every so many years because they tend to spread like everything else!!! So, if your still wearing that size 9 you wore in college, well, get to a New Balance store and get a Sit and Fit, especially if you are suffering from any kind of swelling or discomfort.

The replacement model is the Men's
M766NG and
M766NY.
Women's
W766GR or
W766NC.

I think that you will be just as happy with the update.

The 766's were a Runner's World Editor's Choice Winner and I give it a high rating for comfort.

Other Related Blogs:
Sit and Fit, That Is What New Balance Recommends
Uh...I'm 38. How'd My Foot Grow?
Do New Balance shoes run true to size?

First time ever, women can finally purchase walking shoes with a 4A width. Available in black and white, the New Balance women's walking shoe is great for women who need an extra, extra narrow shoe...

WW811WT

WW811BK