Made in USA 574 $190 (Was$260) Delivered
https://www.newbalance.com.au/pd/made-in-usa-574/US574DV1-38…
Various Shoes Made in UK From $170-$240 Delivered
https://www.newbalance.com.au/search?q=uk&search-button=&lan…
trophy of higher labour costs
is that what rest of us call fair wage?
Valiant insertion of social activism into a question that wasn't really about it, but your intervention here is a bit simplistic.
On "fair wage", it's not clear that the people working in an American New Balance factory are being paid a living wage in their community. US minimum wage laws aren't geared towards getting textile and footwear workers into home ownership.
It's also not clear that buying products from high labour cost countries is a meaningful way of alleviating global poverty or reducing inequality.
My question was really just whether the increased price of the New Balance "made in" range is due to higher quality or just higher labour input prices plus a potential marketing gimmick. It's a reasonable question.
People complaint when "its Chinese"
People complaint when "its more expensive"
People just complaint, there's no winning lo
If your "people" in this comment is me, I have no objection to Chinese products if the quality is decent (and they're not spying on me).
If your "there's no winning" is an acknowledgement that there's a variety of opinions out there and it's unrealistic to expect everyone to like the same thing, then yes. Welcome to adulthood.
I have no objection to Chinese products if the quality is decent (and they're not spying on me)
How do you know what's spying on you? Do you think an American or Korean phone spies on you? Do you think that Apple and Google spies on you?
And one last, very important question. What do you think the Chinese company/government will gain if they do spy on you?
@nikoris: As part of my job I have access to protected Australian Gov't information, so some work phone calls and emails could be of interest. Foreign governments wouldn't be too interested in how often I'm at Domino's, though.
But I'm quietly confident that Chinese New Balance shoes aren't sending data anywhere, which was my original point.
I have access to protected Australian Gov't information, so some work phone calls and emails could be of interest.
Those could be of interest to Google, Apple, USA or Korea as well (and probably way more than China). Do you also imply that they might be spying you every time you mention one of their products?
@nikoris: I don't want other countries spying on me either, no. I never indicated that I did, and you were the person who actually raised the topic of China.
@park: Brother @nikoris here thinks he's playing 5D chess with the "And one last, very important question" stuff, when I'm really just interested in whether a pair of shoes is good for the price.
Better materials, very high quality imo.
New balance made in quality is so much better than Nike/jordans and its not even close.
Thanks, this is the sort of response I was actually looking for.
That looks like the cheap ones from Rivers
Why should we get ripped off by Americans or Britishes?
19 of the 27 made in the UK styles linked are $240+, most being in excess of $300.
I've had 3 pairs, 2 of the same style but they were never comfortable. At least not for my wide/flat feet anyway. NB is just all hype and nothing else.
Do they use totally different materials to the ones made in Asia, or are we just paying for the trophy of higher labour costs?