New Balance is on a mission to provide lightweight military sneakers made in the United States, and it wants the Defense Department to equip soldiers with them, company head Rob DeMartini told the Herald.
"For whatever reason, the sneaker is the only piece of equipment for a uniform that services don't require to be" made in the U.S., said DeMartini, New Balance's president and CEO.
The Berry Amendment, originally passed on the eve of World War II, requires the Department of Defense to procure clothing and other items made in the United States. The 950 is New Balance's first Berry-compliant sneaker, DeMartini said.
Suggesting why the Defense Department doesn't require U.S.-made sneakers, DeMartini said, "They would say one of the reasons is nobody made a Berry-compliant shoe, and so we have made one."
The sneaker is "fiber forward," meaning everything that goes into the shoe has U.S.-based content, "starting from literally the grass sheep eat," company spokeswoman Amy Dow added.
Last month, more than four dozen members of Congress appealed to the Defense Department to make training shoes Berry-compliant in a letter spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California and U.S. Rep. Michael H. Michaud of Maine, where New Balance has three factories and close to 900 workers.
The politicians claimed the Defense Department circumvented the U.S. procurement policy by issuing cash allowances for soldiers to purchase their own training shoes, leading to servicemen and women relying more on foreign-made shoes than ones manufactured and available in the United States.
"We should not rely on other countries, particularly those who may have competing global interests, to supply our forces with basic items. This is especially true when there are millions of Americans looking for work," the letter said. "More importantly, our soldiers deserve to fight in uniforms, including footwear, that are made in the USA."
Hub-based, 107-year-old New Balance, which hopes to break ground on its new Brighton headquarters, hotel, office and athletic complex early next year, has made military apparel — including running shorts, protective fire-retardant underwear and overboots — for more than 25 years, DeMartini said.
"We do it for two reasons — one, we think it's right to serve in the military, but two, the technical demands that they have help us build a better brand," he said.
For the fourth year in a row, New Balance is the presenting sponsor of the Run-Walk to Home Base fundraiser. The 9K run or two-mile walk event supports the Red Sox [team stats] Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program, which has raised $7.3 million to provide clinical care and support to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and families affected by combat stress and traumatic brain injury.
The New Balance 950 shoe will be manufactured in Massachusetts and will sell under a contract price with military branches, DeMartini said, adding the new sneaker could create 250 jobs primarily in the company's manufacturing and manufacturing support sectors.
"It's basically ... completed and it's waiting to be called for," he said.
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