New Balance Shoes for the President

New Balance, the last company to actually make athletic shoes in the United States, created a custom pair of size 12Ds for President Obama. The morning Sentinel reports:

Now, another well-known figure will tie up the laces of a size 12D, gray New Balance pair of sneakers. If President Barack Obama could go anywhere inconspicuously, the blue stitching on the side of the sneakers declaring his name would give him away.

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-2nd District, will present the sneakers to the president this evening at a fundraiser at the Portland Museum of Art. They are made with natural pig skin, mesh and labels manufactured in the U.S.

At a tour of the shoe factory in Norridgewock on this morning, Michaud said he will give the sneakers to Obama to remind him that people in the U.S. still produce footwear. He will also urge Obama to require the military to buy American-made athletic footwear.

Michaud has introduced the “American Shoes for American Service members Act” to clarify that the so-called Berry Amendment applies to footwear.

If Michaud's bill passes to ensure that the Berry Amendment includes shoes, New Balance could certainly gain some business. Its a shame that all but a small portion New Balance's production along with every other athletic shoe sold today are manufactured over seas, mostly in China or other eastern rim nations.