New Balance A20

Because white tastes in shoes can change so quickly, it’s not recommended that you ever talk to a white person about shoes. Over the years they have embraced (and eventually disowned) Uggs, Birkenstocks, Earth Shoes, and most recently Crocs. If it’s popular, the chances are that the clock is ticking down to it’s imminent doom. One mention of your affinity for selected footwear could undo all of your hard work.

There is, however, one exception: New Balance running shoes. All white people own a pair! Seriously, next time you are at a casual party where guests are encouraged to take off their shoes take a look by the door at the veritable rainbow of New Balance sneakers.

But why do white people love them so uniformly? It is pretty simple really. A few years ago it came out that Nike (and other manufacturers) were producing their shoes in Asian sweatshops and then selling them for a very high profit margin. White people were outraged, they generally prefer that children in developing nations first finish high school before working in shoe-producing sweatshops. Otherwise they might look foolish when their co-workers are talking about Catcher in the Rye.

This enormous guilt over child labor meant that white people started to stop wearing Nike shoes. Subsequently they were left to find a company that used fair labor practices to make shoes for the sports that they loved most: jogging, hiking, cross-country running, marathons, walking and being seen in retro-sneakers.

With factories in New England (include three in Maine!) and an extensive lineup of shoes that were meant only for running, New Balance was in the ideal position to both produce and distribute a product to the lucrative markets of white people conveniently located in the region. They quickly spread nationally and joined outdoor performance clothes as an essential part of the white uniform.

When you meet a person wearing New Balance shoes it is a good idea to ask them about the marathon for which they are inevitably training. If they say “I’m not training for a marathon,” this is a good opportunity to raise your status by saying “oh, I thought only runners wore those. My running club all wear New Balance except for a few jerks who won’t shut up about Asics. I’m still a bit sore from the 10k run this morning.”

This is an extremely effective move since white people who jog are generally viewed as being better than white people who don’t. Although perhaps it’s more accurately stated that white people who jog feel the need to constantly prove they are better than white people who don’t.

Note: It is considered a legendary white male move to play basketball in a pair of New Balance. Lots of layups.

What an informative comment RoboCop lol
But back to the shoes lol I think they shoulda chose a different sole for these…
It’s to clunky and doesn’t fit with the upper…

Robo,

It wasn’t just white people that were concerned about Nike’s sweatshops a few years back. One of the most powerful demonstrations I ever took part in was at the NIKETOWN in NYC. On that particular day, five busloads of kids from the Gun Hill Projects in the Bronx came down to protest the exploitation of (mostly brown) workers from the developing world. The kids chanted, “We made you, we’ll break you.” The video footage I have from the day rocks.

A couple of years later, I had the pleasure of speaking to about 100 kids at a community center in South Central Los Angeles about Nike and their sweatshops. (I have spoken at more than 450 universities in 38 states on the issue.) You know what I found most interesting? You didn’t have to explain poverty, exploitation, and oppression to these kids. They got what the workers were dealing with 100% and they wanted to get involved in the fight.

I think my point here is, caring about social justice is not just a white, upper-middle class thing, it’s a human thing, and I have been lucky enough to see kids of all shades get involved in trying to make the world a better place (by ending Nike’s sweatshop abuses).

If you want to learn more about the Team Sweat campaign and help workers fight to end Nike’s exploitation, check out http://www.teamsweat.org. You can also find our fan page on Facebook.

Peace, Jim Keady

p.s. I am a former pro athlete and division one college coach and although soccer is my main sport, I’ll take you to the rack any day AND, I’ll be wearing my New Balance high tops when I do it.

ROBO,

people buy new balance not only because of the made in usa, But also because they come in widths so my 11.5 4E fits instad of a 13 in NIKE, many soccer players do wear NB, and while you dont see many pro athletes wearng them. Its because the product is good enough that they wont pay people money to wear them.and come to think of it… lots of african americans, hispanic, asian and everything in between wear the shoes. Yes they have factories in maine, boston and cali, but have been making products since 1904 in boston (way before nike) marketed towards problematic feet. and since 90% of americans have foot problems its not a shoe for white people, but for AMERICANS (no I am NOT white)