Boston-based New Balance signed a $17.3 million dollar, 18-month contract with an optional clause for another 18-month period with the Department of Defense last Thursday. The contract enables New Balance to provide Made-In-USA sneakers that meet military requirements for personnel entering basic training.
The contract is a first for the Department of Defense, as sneakers hadn’t been included under the Berry act, which required the military to provide its personnel with American-made equipment and uniforms to the greatest extent possible. Up to this point, soldiers were given stipends for their sneakers or expected to pay out of their clothing allowance for their footwear. But U.S. senators from Maine (where the New Balance factory that will be making the shoes is located) had been pushing the Department of Defense to add shoes into the bill since 2014, and their wishes came true as New Balance was able to provide a made in the U.S. shoe that fit the bill’s requirements.
“This is a great win for the preservation and growth of American manufacturing jobs,” said New Balance president and CEO Rob DeMartini. “This Department of Defense contract confirms New Balance’s long-standing commitment to making shoes in this country and our ability to deliver high-quality American-made athletic footwear for our nation’s servicemen and women.”
