20K Skates - Cosmetic Defects

[boo10 323]

I see that Pro Hockey Life is selling 20K's with cosmetic defects for 50% off, $399.99 Cdn. I've never seen "Seconds" being sold through retail outlets before and wonder if this is common practice? Has anybody bought "Seconds" in the past and if so, what has your experience been?

http://www.prohockeylife.com/hockey-skates-senior-hockey-skates-c-1_12/reebok-20k-pump-white-second-sr-hockey-skates-p-8477

[Monty22 821]

Cosmetic blems are typically stiching that isn't quite right, glue that has gotten on outer surface areas or materail color that wasn't in spec etc. I would call and see if someone could look over the size you're interested in. More often than not it's something you wouldn't notice or care about, as long as it dosen't affect fit or function you should be good to go.

[boo10 323]

Thanks. I had planned to pick up a pair of Crazy Lights at the next Sportchek F&F sale, (25% off). I may just have to try on the 20K and see how they fit. Wonky stitching doesn't matter to me, so long as it doesn't compromise the integrity of the boot. Excess glue is easily handled with a low level of heat and a razor blade. As far a colour goes i couldn't care less. You could put pink racing stripes on my skates and if they fit well and performed nicely I'd wear them proudly! :)

[simnorm 2]

I saw these at my local PHL store. Each skate has a quality control tag that marks why it didn't pass. There's also a short comment in french.

I had a rough time finding what was wrong on some skates.

They had a sign stating there's some sort of warranty on the holder mounting, so probably no warranty on the skates themselves.

[flyweightphantom 1]

very tempted to order for $399 Cdn, you cant go wrong pending its just cosmetic as they state!

[superhakan 2]

After seeing the skates they are a great deal. Most of the defects I've seen are completely unnoticeable.

[t6lock 24]

is this a common thing for companies? i wonder if the person got fired for making a batch of wonky skates haha jk. is it more likely this was a bad batch, or a lot of bad skates built up over the entire course of production

[Monty22 821]

It was/is? Common for Graf Cananda, only they wouldn't get marked as blems ..... every manufacturer of anything will have a certain percentage of product that's not within spec.

[IniNew 51]

I've only ever seen Reebok offer discounted prices for factory seconds.

[grnmtnvt 18]

I picked up a pair yesterday and I'm really happy with them. They have a little cosmetic defect with some glue on the outsole, but nothing major and appears to be purely cosmetic. Rousseau sports in St. Hubert seemed to have quite a few pairs left. For 400$ off, I'll take a little extra glue on the outsole.

[Mario123 2]

Has anyone bought a pair of these from pro hockey life? What are the defects that are being found? I'm considering picking up a pair if they don't look nasty.

[simnorm 2]

I have inspected quite a few of these at 2 pro hockey life stores

Most defects I have seen are around the tendon guard. The stitching, poor trimming or scuff on the clarino leather.

I saw a pair where the spacing between the boot and the toe cap was greater than 2mm.

They definitely don't look nasty, so go ahead a order a pair.

[Mario123 2]

I have to order online. I wonder if they will tell me what the defect is if I email them. When I order them online does the website decide what store they will pull the inventory from?

[grnmtnvt 18]

I would give the individual store a call with the size you want and ask them what the defect is. I would hope they would be able to ship that pair from the store. I looked at a number pairs at the store in St. Hubert and like the other poster said, the majority were issues with the tendon guards and stitching inside the boot. The pair I bought had a little extra glue on the outsole (very minor) and an external stitch inside the boot. They had quite a few pairs at most sizes so there's a good chance you might get to pick between pairs.

[JR Boucicaut 3759]

Reebok|CCM always did a good job of denoting what was wrong on their blems - in past years they had a tag on them.

One if the retailers I worked for used to buy them. It usually was bad stitching or crooked plastic components on the outer of the skate.