It has been difficult getting U.S. companies to make items like consumer electronics and apparel-related products in the USA, often because of higher costs here. A few months ago, we blogged about Apple’s decision to do more iMac manufacturing in the United States.
With this in mind, how far should we go to support the LAST American-made running shoes (from New Balance)?
As reported by Timothy Aeppel for the Wall Street Journal: “Time may be running out for the last American-made running shoes. New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., owned by former marathoner Jim Davis and his wife Ann, is the sole athletic-shoe maker that still has factories in the U.S. Those plants churn out about a quarter of the shoes it sells domestically. The rest are imported. The company has continued to make shoes in the U.S., even though that means settling for less profit. New Balance says the flexibility of its U.S. factories and turnaround times counted in days, rather than weeks, help make up for the higher cost. But a push by rivals to do away with tariffs on imported running shoes, as part of a larger trade deal, could finally tip the scales against its American strategy. ‘A rapid reduction of the existing [tariff] agreements would put our factories here at significant risk,’ says Robert DeMartini, CEO of the Boston-based company, which is fighting to keep the tariffs in place.”
Click the Wall Street Journal image below to read more and click here for a WSJ video on this matter.
