New Balance‘s Fight to Win Over Women With Fashionable Workout Gear

Juan Carlos Ulate ("Reuters" / "Scanpix")

New Balance has been making shoes for more than a century. Now, with its running and casual sneaker business humming along—sales hit $3.3 billion in 2014, up 21 percent from 2013—the privately held company is making a big play for women with a revamped apparel line.

NB Women will hit stores this fall, and the 72-page catalog to accompany its release is filled with „athleisure“ fare, items meant to be worn both during workouts and throughout the day. There‘s a $120 high-collared „en route“ jacket and $85 „fashion crop“ pants, with print details at the waist and legs. The goal is to grab a formidable slice of the U.S. women‘s activewear market, which represents more than $18 billion in annual sales, according to research firm NPD Group, and is dominated by such giants as Gap, Nike, and Lululemon.

New Balance has spent 18 months preparing for its push to sell more workout clothes to women. A team of around 100 people at the company is dedicated to both men‘s and women‘s apparel, spread among the company‘s Boston headquarters, regional design centers in the U.K. and Hong Kong, and a factory and innovation center in Lawrence, Mass. Making the new line fashionable and on-trend has been a priority, but designers inside the factory‘s studio have also been focusing on new fabrics, ways to regulate temperature and wick away moisture, and provide better freedom of movement. „Women desire form and function in equal measure,“ said Deirdre FitzGerald, vice president of global apparel at New Balance. „That‘s critically important to her.“