Vietnam's fearsome sneakers

Source: BY PETER WHORISKEY, The Washington Post

NORRIDGEWOCK -- At the factory here owned by New Balance, the last major athletic shoe brand to manufacture footwear in the United States, even workers on the shop floor recognize that in purely economic terms, the operation doesn't make sense.

The company could make far more money if, like Nike and Adidas, it shifted virtually all of these jobs to low-wage countries.

So employees try each shift to make it up. Conversations on the shop floor are sparse at best, and the tasks at each work station have been stripped of waste and precisely timed. Workers cut leather for a pair of shoes in 88 seconds, handle precise stitching in 37 seconds, and glue soles to uppers even faster.

"The company already could make more money by going overseas and they know it," said Scott Boulette, 35, a burly team leader who has his son's name tattooed in Gothic letters down his left forearm. "So we hustle."



Read more: http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/workers-brace-for-sneakers-from-vietnam_2011-07-29.html

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:grr: Not only are 1,000 jobs on the line, New Balance is a 'good neighbor' supporting local non-profits and the community in general.

"Now, however, comes what may be an insurmountable challenge. The Obama administration is negotiating a free-trade agreement with Vietnam and seven other countries, and it is unclear whether the plant can stand up to a flood of shoes from that country, already one of the leading exporters of footwear to the United States."

Thanks for putting American jobs first yet again, Mr. Obama! :sarcasm:

shame.

Our largest volume export to PRC is

(and this is by container volume)

WASTE PAPER! Really!

the only way to compete with other countries such as Vietnam is too lower are wages and benefits to theirs. there you go.

Free trade is simply not free. It would be more equitable if the rest of the world enjoyed the same wages and benefits across the globe. Then, free trade would be more so. The world does not. This would also drastically decrease business profits as cheap, exploitable labour disappeared.

No, Free Trade today is a slogan used by big business to ship jobs to low-wage, no benefit, less oversight, business havens. That is it. That is all. It is like a tax haven where a US corporation sets up a subsidiary in a mail-box in the Cayman Islands and charges all of their US profits through the subsidiary without paying one dime in taxes, as long as the money remains overseas.

And for a few dollars less on a pair of sneakers, Americans are willing to increase the debt by untold millions of dollars more. Great.

Only running shoes I wear.

Thanks for sharing this article!

New Balance, Red Wing, KB, it's tough shelling out the money for dress shoes especially, but it's just the right thing to do.

And it's a big fucking tent!

I think they mark good inventory as seconds to keep the thing full. The tags in the parking lots indicate people are willing to travel to get a good deal on local product.

Right on. I've been lucky enough to be able to wear them at work the last couple of days. My Redwings are a little hot in the summer.

I detest globalization, globalists, and all the spreading misery associated with it.

benefit some in the United States, either by reducing prices for consumers or raising profits for manufacturers that have their operations overseas."

Lower costs? Really? Then why do my made-in-USA New Balance shoes cost the same as the made-in-China ones? I am SO SICK OF THAT GODDAMN LIE.

ETA: The difference is, New Balance makes less profit on the USA ones. But it makes a profit no matter what. It's NEVER about "lower prices for consumers." It's ALWAYS about "raising profits."

ETA, again: Fuck these "free-trade" agreements, and fuck anyone who supports them.

They just can't keep from wanting to put our hand on that hot stove! (THIS time, it won't burn!)

labor costs. At the price they sell for, it would take their workers months to afford a pair. But they do have to pay superstars millions to endorse their shoes.
People actually think athletes are superstars because of the shoe brand they wear, who new! Actually domestic brands can make money here but profit margins are way way lower. If they could get superman to endorse for free, it would be great.
Looking at the time it takes to make a shoe and so little material involved, the profits are obscene.

I live very close to the factory in Skowhegan and shop in the factory store, which is a converted schoolhouse. When I asked which shoes were actually made in America, I was shown to a very small amount of shoes. I was told that most of the shoe parts are manufactured out of country but assembled in the local factory. Is that how they can call it "Made in America?" I want the whole thing made here and I want Americans to have those jobs.

I figure it's like a car. Parts made elsewhere, some here, but assembled in the USA.

I'd rather put money away and buy a superior pair of shoes than pay less and get something that doesn't work.

I'm all for keeping those 1,000 jobs here, too.

New Balance New Balance New Balance

The sad news coming out of Vietnam about people being burned to death in a shoe factory there reminds me of why we have OSHA, had unions pushing for worker safety, why I WILL buy New Balance.

"the Trans-Pacific Partnership, would create U.S. jobs by opening up Asian countries to U.S. exports such as computers from California and paper products from Maine."
Yeah, I'm sure there'll be a boom of computer exports to these Vietnamese villages. What's their average yearly income ?
These trade agreements are NAFTA bad.

More likely Goldman Sucks wants to open a trading desk in Hanoi.

Our main exports are:
Jobs
Waste paper
Debt
Jobs
Debt
Instruments of death
Jobs

The best thing that could happen for the American worker right now would be a complete naval blockade of the country. U-boats in the Atlantic and Japanese subs in the Pacific intent on sinking every commercial ship headed for an American port. Americans would have to (1) ration gas so they could cut oil consumption by half and (2) get the boarded up factories humming again to make the products needed in the economy.

add limited import tariffs as needed to make American products competitive.

:rofl:

I've moved down the list. :hi: :)

:shrug:

I've worn them predominantly over the years as their narrow sizes fit my feet better. They're still designed in the UK, but manufactured in most of the same places as other shoes (Vietnam, China, India, etc.). We have a friend who's a buyer with them so we are able to get a good discount from time to time.

All of my running shoes and sneakers are New Balance. Love them and really like the fact that they are American made.

New Balance are the only sneakers I will buy.

Used to buy Nikes until they reacted so arrogantly to the sweatshop accusations. Haven't bought a pair since.

Good for New Balance.

or sneakers and saw some New Balance shoes that looked like what I might like.

Ar