NBH REEBOK CCM CUSTOM MADE HOCKEY GLOVES

[ROBZIM31 0]

I thinks its a real shame that NBH or Reebok doesn't offer custom made hockey gloves. I give MIA real credit for tayloring their business to customers, they have stock glove colors and also ones that you can create yourself or you can buy just about any glove in NHL team colors. Nike has Nike ID on their Nike website where you can custom color shirts, sneakers, soccer balls etc and they also offer custom made goalie pads as well. Does anyone know why they don't offer the same for hockey gloves. I think Reebok offers the same on their store front where you can custom make sneakers. These items are offered at a premium, maybe $10-15 over regular retail price but if they are offered people are buying them. Personally I am a big fan of the new NBH pro roll glove that is coming out with the NBH logo on them but I think they are only offered in five colors, I think many hockey players would like to have a pair in their favorite team colors. The ones that Penguins players wear are a stock color black and white but the Ducks players embroidery is in Orange, and the Rangers red, white, and blue gloves are different then the Canadiens red, white, and blue gloves. As for pricing I know I am willing to pay extra to have something custom made to my liking and after being on this board for a while I think many would as well.

[ROBZIM31 0]

Just wanted to add something to my little rant...I am a little surprised, especially with Reeok who is the officail supplier of uniforms to the NHL, that they don't offer gloves in NHL colors being that there logo is now everywhere in NHL arenas. They came out with the special edition Olympic gloves which I think sold pretty well so why not come out with a pro line of gloves as well if they did it for the Olympics. One of the only places to get NHL color gloves is on ebay and thats is a crap shoot. They gloves are obviously made and people are bidding for them on ebay so why wouldn't NBH or Reebok want to see the money go into their pockets, maybe JR can give us an answer

[Jim A 4]

first off, you can get custom gloves if you know the right people..or go through certain companies.. i have ordered them direct from the mfg and had them made through friends..

next..picture you are NBH..you spend all year as a PLM working with R&D and the designers to create new gloves...the stores buy them and then hope to sell them to you the consumer...

if you go to the trouble make millions of dollars of hockey gear each season, why would you then go into the business of one-off's with all your customers...

All Nike ID does is change colors and utilize existing materials in the assembly for the shoes...

a company like MIQ, that already is a one-off of another company (oops here I go) and shuns dealers to make a much higher profit by going straight to the consumer (essentially the gloves have the same markup to the consumer, but without the middle man (retailer)..) can offer just that..

as for cost...in the end people say they will pay, but they don't...sure a few will..but that's not enough to justify the expense of having it made

[ROBZIM31 0]

Even if they don't do custom gloves for specific customers and if they are already making gloves in colors NHL teams why just not offer them to the public as well?

[ROBZIM31 0]

As far as selling direct to the public Nike, Reebok do it on their websites and also in stores like Niketown or Reebok gyms and they arent lowering their prices to the public as they are selling direct

[DarkStar50 680]

The reason the companies do not do it is simple: there is no money to be made in doing it. The business term is "economies of scale." The companies are in business to make money on volume sales of product. Gearing up machinery, factory time, and changing little things like embroidery colors adds up to money and time investment. When the money and the time are greater than the profit potential, for a big company, not MIA, the big boys have much better ways to invest their time and money to make more of the product that will sell in much greater numbers. In our utopian world we would each have our personal beer league vendor rep show up and personally take our orders for custom ONE90 skates, custom RBK 13.75" gloves with personal embroidery, and our custom beer league stock OPS made with our name and new number for each different beer league team we are on every year. But, alas, "its all a dream we dreamed, one afternoon, long ago." Box of Rain by Robert Hunter.

[JR Boucicaut 3810]

Jim is exactly right.

But not only that, TPS has offered the entire NHL colorways for years and at that point, it is up to the retailer to pick and choose what colors they want for their store.

Don't get me started on MIA.

And as for your last question, I have a hunch hockey will go that route in the near future. RBK already sells gear on their site but it's not top-end.

[Viking 1]

custom RBK 13.75" gloves with personal embroidery

That's way too short for me, and I don't want Reeboks anyway - my beer league rep sucks!

... Other than my beer league rep sucking, that's all right on. The CCM/RBKs, and Bauers of the world make enough money that they don't have to worry about getting the exact right colour of teal stripe that someone wants on their gloves. They can offer black, navy, and red/white/blue in their gloves, and satisfy most people. Anyone who wants special colours, or extra padding on their baby finger where they cut it with the weedwhacker is the customer base for MIA and everyone else, but that customer base is just crumbs off the big guys' plates.

[ROBZIM31 0]

Believe me I do see everyones point but why offer it for goalie equipment and not gloves are the factories making that much money on it that they can afford to do it, as far as pro gloves go if they are making them already why not offer them to the public...as we have seen on the internet and lhs not everything sells and eventually goes on sale anyway

[JR Boucicaut 3810]

Because goalie manufacturers are specialized - it is all that they do. Just like Eagle, just like MIA. The bigger manufacturers have a bigger piece of the pie to worry about.

[ROBZIM31 0]

so i guess my efforts to have the big companies listen to a consumer and expand options shall not be heard

[JR Boucicaut 3810]

There's no need to. You can still get the gloves if you do a team order.

[mack 44]

Or just find Bauer SDPs in the colour you want till then.

[DarkStar50 680]

BTW, most big name brand gloves are imported. The NBH 4 roll Pro glove will be an import. Therefore, your special make-up glove is not made in Canada with some quick turnaround time from NBH. I did make-to-order Vapor XV gloves for our Bantam AAA Majors this season. Delivery was still 4 months and right up against the start of the season for this team in late August 2006. The gloves have to travel a long way to get to the pro shop door.

The NBH ID OPS program is going to be a made in China product. NBH will fly in the OPS orders but it will still take time. Logistics play a big role in this whole idea of why can't I get custom make-up anything I want.

[Jim A 4]

Groups that sell on their site Nike/Reebok are selling a small amount of items to the public and typically not the highend items..RBK does quite a bit of closeout sales for NOS

a Niketown still has to buy the product from Nike etc...the cash still changes hands though..for all brick/mortar type stuff