Less = More

Yes, the New Balance ad campaign for their shoes is significant in more ways than one... although shoes from almost every manufacturer are getting lighter across the board, the price is going up. So, basically, you're paying more money for less shoe. Huh? That makes no sense. I mean, there's not as much material, so shouldn't they cost less? Well, as it turns out, there are other factors to take into consideration:

• Higher fuel prices mean higher costs for shipping... this impacts both raw materials and finished goods
• China has been pressured to increase worker's wages

Ok, so shoes cost more to make now than they used to, but how much more? I have no idea... the article doesn't give me those numbers. Now, I know what you're thinking- if I were a good blogger, I would chase down the price of rubber (and whatever the heck else they use to make shoes), crunch the numbers, and make my own graph. Aside from the fact that I really don't feel like spending the time to do this, there's also another factor that I really have no clue how to price out:

Research.

Yup, it takes brains to make shoes lighter, more flexible, etc. And, people have to pay to do the studies to show that you really can feel that "8mm difference", and that it might be better (*for some*). Anyways, here is one of the graphs from the Runner's World article that basically sums this up: