New Balance celebrates opening of expanded Central Maine factory
By Russ Reed
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SKOWHEGAN, Maine (WMTW) — New Balance Central Maine has sized up, as the Boston-based athletic company completed the expansion of its footwear factory in Skowhegan.
The expanded facility is now up and running, two years after the groundbreaking for the $65 million project that added a single 120,000-square-foot story to the existing five-story factory building the company bought in 1981.
The expansion will create 200 new jobs at the Skowhegan factory and double its capacity to produce athletic footwear.
Both of Maine’s U.S. senators, Susan Collins and Angus King, visited the factory on Monday for the grand opening. Collins talked about Maine’s biggest basketball star, Cooper Flagg, and his decision to sign with New Balance last year.
“While we all wished that Cooper Flagg were suiting up for the Celtics this fall, his decision to join the New Balance family was driven by more than just the footwear,” Collins said. “Courted by so many others, he chose New Balance for its culture and community.”
With the added space and equipment, the Skowhegan facility will produce one million New Balance sneakers per year.
“We’re here because of a conscious decision and confidence in American workers and in the people of Maine,” King said. “The skill and the detail that goes into building those shoes is really amazing.”
New Balance employs more than 600 people across multiple factories and retail locations in Maine.
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