Leading footwear and apparel representatives from New Balance were back in Ireland over the past few days meeting the OCI, a number of National Federations, and OCI Athletes Commission representatives.
New Balance provided presentations on the updated designs of technical clothing for performance, training and recovery, village and ceremony clothing and footwear for Rio 2016 following their previous consultation meetings in January 2015. New Balance were represented by Portia Blunt – Apparel Innovation Manager, Dan Green – Promo Apparel Manager, and Keith Kelly -Global Integrated Marketing Manager and the OCI by Rio 2016 Chef de Mission Kevin Kilty, Stephen Martin, Martin Burke and Linda O’Reilly.
There will be one final consultation meeting in the design process in the first quarter of 2015 before sign off on all clothing and footwear for Team Ireland – Rio 2016.
New Balance will then start the process of producing the most comprehensive range of technical gear for an Irish Team to date.
Ireland are in the privileged position of being the only National Olympic Committee sponsored by New Balance.
New Balance, headquartered in Boston, MA has the following mission: Demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that athletes are proud to wear, associates are proud to create and communities are proud to host. New Balance is currently the only major shoe company that manufactures athletic footwear in the U.S. with 25% of our sales in the U.S. produced at five New England facilities. The company also operates a manufacturing facility in Flimby, U.K. New Balance employs more than 4,000 associates around the globe, and in 2012 reported worldwide sales of $2.39 billion. To learn more about how New Balance Makes Excellent Happen, please visit http://www.newbalance.com.
