Joe Root’s seal of approval: “It’s a fascinating process”
It was a huge privilege to recently host England’s Test record run-scorer, Joe Root, at our factory and head office in Essex.
Joe, a global brand ambassador for New Balance, was given a tour of our cleft-making operation to see the process first-hand. He was left hugely impressed and shared his thoughts on the experience:
“It has been amazing to come and see how it all unfolds, and all the different intricacies throughout the different stages of the process. Seeing the original trees and then obviously seeing them get clefted up and graded out has been really fascinating. I had a small idea of the process, but not to the extent that I have been shown today. It is a fascinating process and it is amazing to see how many different people it takes, and the stages it has to go through, to get to the end product.”
The visit took place just a few weeks before he set off for the Ashes series, giving Joe time to speak with our staff about the role they play in carving out cricket bat clefts across the world.
He was particularly impressed with the longevity of our team, saying: “Just coming here and getting to meet a number of different staff members, some who have worked here for near-on 50 years and still enjoying what they do, is really impressive. Their work obviously requires a huge amount of skill and knowledge. The scale of it is amazing to see how much they can provide not just for English players, but for cricket bats globally.”
While it was a privilege to host a cricket legend, we were equally delighted that he was so keen to see where the willow for his New Balance bats is sourced.
Joe told us: “For someone who loves batting, cricket and cricket bats, it’s really cool to see how it all works out. From my point of view, my cricket bats are the most important tool in my armoury. If you have got a good bat, it makes a huge amount of difference. So to get a better understanding from the very start of the journey to the end product was a great experience. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable visit and hopefully there are a couple of nice clefts in there for me for the cricket that is yet to come.”
Click here to see Joe’s interview in full.
