New Balance Gets Military Contract Providing 1000 Jobs For Maine

New Balance manufacturers over 4 billion pairs of shoes each year here in the US, one of the few athletic footwear companies to do so. 3 of their 5 manufacturing facilities are here in Maine.

The Boston based company just scored a major $17.3 million contract with The Defense Department to provide athletic shoes for military personnel entering basic training. According to the Sun Journal, that contract will continue to provide jobs for the 1000 Mainers working at New Balance factories in Norway, Skowhegan and Norridgewock, Maine.

It's interesting to note that all three of those locations are in what were once major industrial towns that got hit hard when manufacturing went overseas.

I love my New Balance shoes and always drive back to the town I grew up in to buy them at the factory outlet store in Oxford, just a few short miles from where they are made. It's awesome to see a New England based company keeping their manufacturing at home, providing jobs for their own.