Pentagon Memo Says Recruits’ Athletic Shoe Allowances Must Buy USA-Made Shoes Once Available

The Defense Department has directed the military services to require that the shoe allowances and vouchers given to new recruits be used to buy USA-made athletic shoes as soon as such shoes are available.

The memo

In a memo issued Friday, April 25, 2014, acting Deputy Defense Secretary Christine Fox said she expects USA-made athletic shoes to be available “in the near future.” New recruits get a one-time allowance or voucher to buy shoes for running and physical training. Until now, the department had not required those shoes to be made in the USA because it believed no USA manufacturer made athletic shoes that complied with the Berry Amendment.

The Berry Amendment requires that clothing, textiles and certain other items bought with Defense Department funds be made in the USA, with limited exceptions. Under the new policy, exceptions are allowed when a USA-made shoe that fits a recruit’s specific foot type or running style is not available.

How it came about

• Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, helped enact language in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the department to look into whether Berry-compliant athletic shoes made in the USA were available.
• The Associated Press reported that Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine was a driving force behind the change. New Balance, which has factories in Maine, has developed a prototype shoe that it says would comply, and other shoemakers have told the Pentagon they plan to make fully USA-made shoes.

“If we can provide U.S.-made athletic shoes to our troops – and I believe we can – we should do so,” Levin said in a statement welcoming the decision.