A New Wave Of Balance

The growth of New Balance in Singapore.

- Lionel Kong

It’s one of the most well-known running shoe brands in Singapore, but not many people realise that the New Balance brand is one of the oldest names in field of sports equipment design and manufacture as well. It was founded in 1906, in Boston, Massachusetts, by William J. Riley, and the first product that he manufactured and marketed was a flexible foot support arch.

The original ‘New Balance Arch’ was a success amongst policemen, salespeople, and people who stood at work all day and perhaps due to the small, focused operation, the company managed to survive the Great Depression none worse for the wear.

The brand’s first attempt at making running shoes came in 1938, when William Riley chose to make shoes for a local running club called the Boston Brown Bag Harriers. The club bought the shoes, made from Kangaroo leather uppers and crepe sole bottoms, for US$7 a pair, and a legend was born.

The modern story of the New Balance running shoe starts in 1960, when the Trackster was launched. Available in multiple widths to suit a wide variety of feet, the Trackster’s popularity was spread by word of mouth, and one of the brand’s most famous adopters was Ken Cooper, a marathoner, fitness pioneer, and the man that coined the term ‘aerobics’.

New Balance was the first, and remains the only sports shoe brand that sells shoes in a variety of widths. This was a point of contention among retailers for decades, arguing that the New Balance inventory took up too much space on the account of its variety. For athletes though, it’s often been the shoe that fits when nothing else will.