NEW BALANCE MADE IN UK COMES FROM ONE CUMBRIAN VILLAGE

Every pair of New Balance Made in UK shoes comes out of one factory, in Flimby, a coastal village in Cumbria in north west England. New Balance's own product pages say each MADE UK sneaker is crafted there, and the line has been built at the Flimby site since 1991, after nine years at a first Cumbrian factory that opened in 1982. Today the building employs around 300 people and turns out roughly 30,000 pairs a month, according to the brand's July 2026 announcement of a garden for its workers.

So the answer to where New Balance Made in UK is made is a single address. What that address explains is more useful. It's why the 991v2 changes colour every few weeks but almost never changes shape, why retailers can't agree on whether to call it Made in UK or Made in England, and why the British label doesn't promise what the American one does.

West Cumbria Rehired Its Shoemakers in 1982

New Balance arrived in west Cumbria in 1982 and rehired staff from the area's closed shoe factories, according to BBC reporting and Great British Life's history of the plant. The first factory opened with about 40 workers, who had to learn to build running shoes to the brand's standards.

The sources split on the first address. A New Balance product manager quoted in END.'s 40th anniversary feature places it at Lillyhall and says production moved seven miles up the road to a purpose built site in Flimby in 1991. Other histories name Workington as the starting town, and Great British Life dates the Flimby move to 1992. New Balance's own 2026 release says Flimby has been home to the line since 1991, so that's the date to use.

Orders grew fast enough to need the bigger building. By 2003 the factory had produced its millionth pair of running shoes.

The 40th anniversary in 2022 ran as a two day event at the factory, with tours of the production line, a party on the factory floor and a commemorative 991, according to Hypebeast and END.

300 Workers and 30,000 Pairs a Month

Flimby's current scale is roughly 300 skilled workers producing about 30,000 pairs of shoes each month. New Balance gave those figures on July 30, 2026, when it opened the factory's first garden for employees, and FashionUnited and Retail Gazette repeated them.

Older profiles of the factory tell a different story. Some put output at 28,000 pairs a week, a figure that can't sit beside a monthly total of 30,000. Either the older number belongs to another period or it was misreported, and nothing published reconciles the two. The 2026 release is the current number.

For scale, New Balance's Made in USA line runs out of five factories in Massachusetts and Maine, and Mainebiz lists Flimby as the company's sixth.

Britain gets one building.

Flimby's Reference Shoes Are the 576 and the 991

The 576 and the 991 are the two models most tied to Flimby. New Balance's UK listing calls the Made in UK 576 a signature Flimby model, first released in 1988 as a top of the range trail runner on an ENCAP midsole, and a 2023 release marked its 35th anniversary.

The 991 came out in 2001 as the M991 and spent two decades as the factory's reference model, reaching its 20th anniversary in 2021. Its first update arrived on September 26, 2023, when New Balance and Stone Island announced the Made in UK 991v2, style U991SD2, in a release New Balance titled the first update to a Flimby made icon. Stone Island sold it first on October 4, 2023, and New Balance and other retailers followed on October 18.

Stone Island came back to the 991v2 with a Ghost pack in 2024. The partnership has since moved on to a 574 Ghost and a football capsule in 2026, then a collection built on 1990s terrace culture. An Italian label whose compass badge was adopted by British football casuals launched the second generation of Flimby's reference shoe.

Retailers also list the 1500 and the 920 as Made in UK models.

Made in UK and Made in England Name One Building

Made in UK and Made in England are two names for shoes from one factory. New Balance uses MADE in UK on its own pages, while retailers such as END. still list pairs like the 576 as Made in England, and FO's coverage of the 991v2 Elevated Neutrals pack found both labels on different listings for one release. Search either phrase and you end up in Flimby.

The American label works differently. New Balance states that its Made in USA footwear carries a domestic value of 70 percent or more, a threshold FO noted when the 990v7 went on sale on November 6, 2026. The brand's Made in UK pages name the factory and give no equivalent percentage.

One label publishes a number. The other publishes a town.

Flimby Kept the 991v2 Shape Through 2026

Flimby's 2026 calendar reads as a steady run of 991v2 colourways on an unchanged shape. FO's archive logs a Walnut pair listed for August 20, an Insignia Blue pair listed for September 1, a TCS London Marathon 2026 edition, and the Elevated Neutrals pack on November 1, which put dusty suede over black waffle mesh in Iron/Mulch, style U991EY2, and Turbulence/India Ink, style U991EC2. MR PORTER says the 991v2 runs small and suggests going up half a size.

New Balance set its British and American flagships back to back that autumn, with the 991v2 pack landing five days before the Made in USA 990v7, which HBX opened at 9 AM EST on November 6. That shoe is the seventh generation of a line END. traced back to 1982.

The 990 and the Cumbrian factory share a birth year. One now has seven generations. The other has one building, about 300 workers and roughly 30,000 pairs a month.