Joe Preston, president and chief executive officer of New Balance Athletics Inc., is all about controlling the company’s own destiny.
In a conversation with Michael Atmore, editor in chief of WWD and chief brand officer of Fairchild Media, at WWD’s Apparel and Retail CEO Summit last week, the executive recalled a mantra the company adopted in 2019.
“When we made some changes within their organization in 2019 … it was all about trying to keep pace with the consumer and focusing on the things that we could control,” Preston said. “And clearly, that helped us during COVID, as everybody was dealing with a lot of things personally and professionally. But this mantra is something that we have carried forward. You know, I can’t control the price of gas, but I can control how we’re executing at retail or with our wholesale partners. So, we fundamentally focus on that, and no matter what is thrown our way, we’re going to be able to operate as a team and work diligently with agility to address it.”
Part of guiding its own path means being aware of the overall landscape, the CEO said. “We are highly cognizant of how our retail partners are doing,” Preston explained. “We keep track of them, an...