"The best, not the biggest." A 120-year-old shoemaker that never learned to chase the crowd.
Most stories about athletic footwear start with a swoosh or three stripes. New Balance's starts with a chicken. Founder William J. Riley, a Boston arch-support maker, reportedly watched chickens balance on three-toed feet and decided that was the idea worth naming a company after. In 1906 he opened the New Balance Arch Support Company, selling orthopedic supports and corrective footwear to people whose feet other makers ignored.
More than a century later, that origin still explains the company better than any ad campaign. New Balance is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of athletic footwear and apparel - running shoes, lifestyle sneakers, and gear for tennis, baseball, soccer and, increasingly, basketball. But it has always been organized around fit and craft rather than spectacle. It is the last major athletic brand still substantially owned by a single family, and one of the very few that still makes shoes in its home countries. In 2025 it reported roughly $9.2 billion in sales, up from about $7.8 billion a year earlier - growth that arrived not by shouting the loudest but by refusing to compete on the terms everyone else set.
"The best, not the biggest."
The stated strategy that doubled New Balance's revenue from 2020 to 2024What New Balance actually does
New Balance designs and sells performance and lifestyle footwear built on its own cushioning platforms - Fresh Foam for soft, stable comfort; FuelCell for propulsive energy return; and ENCAP for durable support. Around those technologies sit apparel and equipment for running, training, tennis, baseball, soccer and basketball. Its premium "Made" lines are assembled in the United States and the United Kingdom, a rarity in an industry that offshored production decades ago.
Who its customers are
The customer base is unusually broad: serious runners chasing the right ride, athletes across a half-dozen sports, sneaker collectors trading rare 990s and 574s, streetwear buyers, and everyday shoppers who simply want a shoe that fits. That last group matters more than it sounds - New Balance offers a range of widths most competitors skip entirely.
The problems it solves
The company began by solving a medical problem - poorly supported feet - and never fully left it. For customers with hard-to-fit feet, wide or narrow, the brand's width options are the reason they buy at all. For runners, its foams target the trade-off between comfort and speed. And for a culture tired of disposable, discount-driven sneakers, New Balance offers something closer to a durable good priced like one.
Where it fits in the market
New Balance sits in a rare middle-and-up position: credible performance gear on one side, coveted lifestyle sneakers on the other, and a premium price that it defends rather than discounts. It is smaller than Nike and Adidas by revenue, but it competes on identity - independence, craft and patience - rather than sheer scale.
New Balance says it doubled revenue between 2020 and 2024 - and kept climbing into 2025. The chart below reflects reported and widely cited annual sales figures; earlier years are approximate.
Annual sales, approximate. Sources: company statements, Forbes, press reports.
The flagship premium running-heritage sneaker, made in the USA. Now in its sixth version, blending ENCAP and FuelCell cushioning. The "dad shoe" that became a status symbol.
New Balance's most iconic everyday sneaker - a versatile classic reissued in endless colorways and designer collaborations. A blank canvas for the brand.
A single-piece midsole platform engineered for a soft, stable ride across running and lifestyle models.
A propulsive, energy-returning foam built for performance running and racing.
Footwear and sportswear across tennis, baseball, soccer and training - plus signature lines for endorsed athletes.
A basketball performance sneaker anchoring New Balance's expansion into hoops, arriving with high-profile collaborations.
Three things set New Balance apart from Nike, Adidas, ASICS, Puma, Brooks, HOKA and On. First, ownership: it is privately held, with the Davis family controlling roughly 95% of the company. No IPO, no quarterly earnings pressure - which frees it to make slow, expensive choices.
Second, manufacturing. New Balance still assembles premium footwear in the US and UK, where its "Made" lines meet a domestic-value threshold. It costs more and moves slower than offshore production, but it is a claim almost no rival can match.
Third, pricing discipline. The 990 sells for north of $200 and sells out anyway. New Balance rarely discounts its way to relevance, treating its shoes as durable goods rather than disposable fashion.
The business model reflects all three. Revenue flows from wholesale to retailers, a growing direct-to-consumer channel of owned stores, outlets and e-commerce, and licensing. Wide-width options and domestic craft are not marketing garnish - they are the product.
"They called it the dad shoe. New Balance didn't argue - it kept building."
On the 990's unlikely journey from suburban punchline to sneaker-culture iconNew Balance's athlete strategy mirrors its brand strategy: find talent before the crowd does, then stay. It signed Coco Gauff at 14 in 2018; in 2025 she won the French Open in New Balance. It signed baseball's Shohei Ohtani to a footwear and apparel deal, complete with a 574-based cleat. Its global "We Got Now" campaign pulls those names together with Arsenal's Bukayo Saka and MLB's Francisco Lindor.
Signed at 14 in 2018; a signature line and marquee ads. Won the 2025 French Open in New Balance.
A long-term footwear and apparel deal, launched with a limited-edition 574 cleat.
The Arsenal and England forward, a face of the global "We Got Now" campaign.
Culturally, the company describes itself as mission-driven and long-term: "demonstrating responsible leadership" to build brands that athletes, associates and communities are proud of. Family ownership is the enabler - it lets New Balance plant trees it won't sit under for a decade, like its slow, deliberate push into basketball.
William J. Riley founds the New Balance Arch Support Company, making arch supports and orthopedic footwear.
New Balance produces its first running shoe.
Paul Kidd buys the company and expands shoemaking as demand grows.
Jim Davis acquires New Balance on the day of the Boston Marathon, with only a handful of employees.
New Balance launches the premium 990, pricing a running shoe like a statement of quality.
New Balance introduces Fresh Foam cushioning, modernizing its performance lineup.
New Balance signs a 14-year-old Coco Gauff - an early bet that later pays off.
Coco Gauff wins the French Open in New Balance; sales reach roughly $9.2 billion.
New Balance expands its hoops push with the P400 and high-profile signings.