BenBreeg

One of the problems is that given the math, it takes a small percentage of people to drive the number up. State by state the numbers vary widely but still on the rise most places.

A very small percentage of players are good enough to benefit from custom skates, and then there are the other small percentage who just have some specific fit issues. For the vast majority of people three fits in two boots plus all the CCM offerings and True retail will provide a fit that matches their foot.

So PA currently has hockey, but it is really just in-house summer league and they have lowered the number of kids per team, spread out games, limited fans, etc. Given the rise in cases and the reality of regular season hockey I'm not overly optimistic, which sucks. I would much rather have kept the summer ratcheted down and not ruined fall/winter. We'll see.

That's what I originally thought, 3 fits in each of two boots, that makes sense.

Their website sucks. It has the Vapor and the Supreme on the same page as information about the 3 fits. You take the quiz to determine the right skate and it lands you on the custom skate page which has Vapor and you can choose any of the 3 fits. It was good that they simplified the number of offerings a while back but now it seems like they are confusing things again.

I think you are just accommodating the foot size/shape combinations across two models instead of three. For a given size you have 3 fits of Vapors and 3 fits of Supremes, correct? Or are they not doing the fit thing with the Vapors?

Confused, I thought people were saying in another thread this retail one is NOT the same as the pro stock version with similar pattern name? And what I have in my mind is something more along the lines of this pic: https://www.hockeystickman.com/blogs/hockey-stick-alerts/jamie-benn-pro-stock-style-curve It looks less open than what is posted above in this thread. Could be the pic though.

Seriously, what’s to “get”? Some people use 1/2” tape. They find it a bit annoying to rip rolls in half. Tape company thinks they can sell enough to make it worth their while. They sell it. Just like most products.

So this new curve is only available at the top two price points, hell of an incentive to try something out...

I have not, but I don't use anything at this point that hasn't been available retail.

Ugg, "mid max", more hair splitting. I was looking at the Malkin curve on prohockeysticks. It was described as an 88 with a toe curve, so I guess the same shape but with the curve just pushed forward toward the toe. I would assume it doesn't have a lot of rocker and is fairly closed. i liked some aspects of the 28 except when I'd shoot quickly from the point and not get my hands forward enough (watch your heads boys, incoming!). I use an 88 now but like the longer "flat spot" of the 28. I was thinking of trying the Malkin but pre-orders just closed. Wonder if the 71 from Base is the same. Edit: Meant longer flat spot of the 28

It's a silly as the numbers make it out to be. If it sells, it's not silly. I mean, is it really more silly than the confusing array of new products in the stick and skate segments coming out every year that really has zero bearing on most of the retail market? With all the options, how many people are really in the right combination of kick-point, curve, flex, stick length, etc. for them? Or for how many kids does any of the new skate tech have any impact? I think the hockey companies stumble along as marketing machines, not problem solvers. To me this is, "I am buying a case of hockey tape, throw one or two of these in on top of my regular stuff." Or it is grab it at the counter when checking out. Every new product offering doesn't have to revolutionize the industry.

I don't mind the blue but I do like the black and white better.

Yeah, it’s always a cost/reward thing. Some companies are very aggressive in defense of their IP, others aren’t. Some have a very developed IP strategy, others don’t. Sometimes a smaller company doesn’t have the resources to take the fight to bigger companies. I have worked in various situations with respect to how IP was handled. And if it went to litigation it generally always took a long time because lawyers, which to be fair were just doing their job.

If there is any kind of scale, here could be US (or Canadian)arms of the company, distributors, retailers, etc. there are already legal mechanisms in place to allow them to sell, those can be leveraged. The US is number one in the world wrt IP law, it is a key component in the trade war with China, it’s not something companies just can ignore.