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New Balance reports 2022 revenue of $5.3 billion
US sport equipment brand New Balance has set a new revenue record. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, managing director Joe Preston said that New Balance's 2022 revenue was $5.3 billion (€5 billion), equivalent to a 21% growth over the previous year.
“[Growth] came across multiple silhouettes and across all geographies and channels, every region was up versus the previous year despite the US dollar really impacting our overall revenue,” said Preston, who underlined that the company, whose revenue was $4 billion in 2017, currently operates more than 500 stores worldwide and has a presence with over 3,000 retail partners.
New Balance has redoubled its efforts in recent years, developing a spate of new products, dropping multiple collaborations, greatly increasing the number of athletes under contract, and also taking direct control of its distribution in parts of Europe, in France and the Iberian Peninsula.
On his LinkedIn account, Preston wrote that “2022 was a year of milestones for New Balance as we celebrated the 40th anniversary of our iconic 990s, opened our world-class facility The Track at New Balance, which houses our new Sports Research Lab, and expanded our made-in-the-USA capabilities with a new factory in Methuen, Massachusetts.”
On this aspect, even if the vast majority of New Balance’s products are still produced in Asia, the brand is planning to double its output capacity in the US, having put style consistency in the hands of Teddy Santis in 2021. With this in mind, New Balance has also invested $65 million in its factory in Skowhegan, Maine, and is planning to hire an additional 200 people on-site. Preston also said that a new logistics hub should become operational after the summer.
In 2023, New Balance is set continue to rely on running, its long-established main category, but also to make further inroads in product categories it has been exploring in recent years, such as basketball, with NBA star Kawhi Leonard, and football, with emerging English talent Bukayo Saka. “We have a technology called Fresh Foam that we originally developed for our running products, and we've been bringing that along into some of our other categories.(...) It is a core innovation platform that (...) can help athletes in various sports,” said Preston. From trail running, with the Hierro line, to lifestyle products, with the success of the 550 and 327 models, New Balance has gained traction in various categories.
“[In 2023], we’ll continue to increase our digital technology and domestic manufacturing capabilities, use data analytics to stay close to consumer trends, and remain focused on advancing product innovation across our footwear and apparel technologies and designs,” wrote Preston on LinkedIn. “We've also integrated sustainability into our strategic planning process, so the value we place on responsible industry leadership and our actions to reduce climate impact will be infused throughout everything we do,” he added.
On the market, New Balance is trailing Puma, which recently announced it has topped the €8 billion revenue mark, and probably Chinese group Anta, which will publish its annual results on March 21. But New Balance, unlike market leaders Nike and Adidas and its closest rivals, is an unlisted company. A feature that isn’t expected to change.
“There's no way that [New Balance] will be going public in the near future,” said Preston, adding that “today, we have some of the same family values that we've had ever since Jim and Anne Davis bought the brand in 1972.”
At the time, the company, originally founded in 1906 and a running shoes producer since 1938, had only a handful of employees. In 2000, New Balance reached the $1 billion revenue milestone. And in the past 10 years, it has succeeded in doubling its sales.
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