US sports footwear manufacturer New Balance has denied allegations made by the National Labour Committee (NLC) and China Labour Watch (CLW) that it uses a factory in China's Dongguan city that routinely makes employees work up to 96 hours a week with insufficient overtime pay. A statement made by the NLC and CLW last week claimed that New Balance and Wal-Mart use the Hongyuan factory that is accused of labour violations.

However, in a response to the accusation, New Balance said that it does not contract, nor has it ever contracted product at the Hongyuan factory and that the factory that does produce New Balance products is located in Houjie,

Dongguan City. The statement added that the factory in Houjie is closely monitored by a New Balance Compliance Team including a compliance manager for China and a compliance specialist and that workers producing New Balance footwear are limited to a maximum of 54 hours a week - which includes 40 regular working hours with a maximum of 14 additional overtime hours, all of which is voluntary.