2008 Mission Product

[wickedlite44 0]

the soldier skates look like the lower end, price point skates, right justin?

[Archangel#16 1]

I believe it was answered earlier in this thread that the orange-ish chassis is one of the aftermarket vanguards

[stevoc 0]

All of the post have validity, but we must remember Roller is different....I treat our Roller product different than our Ice product. I am in charge of all roller product, as well as protective gear for both Mission and Itech (product that is more Ice hockey)...When I am working with the designers on the ice side, I have a different mentality than when I am designing stuff for Roller Hockey.

Now back on subject....

That's the bottom of the line??? Holy crap! Them some nice looking skates! Love the chassis color.

Tough call between these and the plaid black ones.

[Justin 1933 134]

$199.99 Retail for those skates...And there is no Orange Chassis...

[JR Boucicaut 3803]

where are those orange chassis that i thought i saw?

That pic was the Assassin chassis, which is not orange, but red.

[rollerskater92 0]

All of the post have validity, but we must remember Roller is different....I treat our Roller product different than our Ice product. I am in charge of all roller product, as well as protective gear for both Mission and Itech (product that is more Ice hockey)...When I am working with the designers on the ice side, I have a different mentality than when I am designing stuff for Roller Hockey.

Now back on subject....

those are some nice skates and affordable :D :D :D

[top-shelf 1]

All of the post have validity, but we must remember Roller is different....I treat our Roller product different than our Ice product. I am in charge of all roller product, as well as protective gear for both Mission and Itech (product that is more Ice hockey)...When I am working with the designers on the ice side, I have a different mentality than when I am designing stuff for Roller Hockey.

Now back on subject....

We all know they're the best looking because they have UNC blue on them... B)

[hockeysc23 0]

Once again the lower end skates look 10x nicer than the higher versions. I love the look of those skates, wish they could invert the quality w.the design looks so we could get that in the top of the line quality.

Very nice.

[TBLfan 25]

I love the look of the chassis, that color looks great. Also with the white on the boot it looks VERY clean(purely aesthetics).

[#96 0]

ONCE AGAIN -

It's exactly what Joe Cook talked about last week - roller hockey is a niche market. Mission already has the biggest market share - and their formula has worked for them, and they can afford to take chances. Hell, look at these posts in this thread. It is what the roller players expect every year from Mission and sales have not lagged. I mean, really, could any other manufacturer put a plaid skate on the market and hear people go apeshit over it? And I'm not talking about MSHers - I was at the road show last week and I saw players comment on them. That Vector 10.0 SE was a roller boot. And it's not exactly flying off the shelves with an ice holder on it. Some things work for roller that doesn't translate to ice.

Your analogy is off-base - you are bashing them for changing their lines every year, yet you are comparing it to the wrong category. Their ice line has been on a two-year cycle for a few years now. The roller guys aren't involved on the ice side. This comparison would've been valid 8 years ago, when they did not have an identity in the ice game.

What kills them are shops who are afraid to stock their product - and that's not Mission's fault. It's the shops who would rather rest on their laurels and stock NBH skates because they know they would clerk every sale instead of pushing a skate they believe in. I order hockey for a 11-store chain of stores and I don't stock Mission high-end skates. Does this make me a hypocrite? No. If I stocked Mission high-end just in my store, I won't have a problem - I had zero probs selling Pure Flys and S500s when I stocked them in Orlando. Nobody came into my store and asked specifically for Mission - they were looking for another skate and I had to beg and grovel for them to throw them on. But once they did...

But could my other stores sell them? Most likely not - they'll have the customer come in and they'll give them what they want and clerk the Vapor XXXX.

Now back to Mission - the changing of names of the skates have hurt them. The skate types have been slightly tweaked (for the better, hit a bump with initial Fuel 2 yrs ago but made it up) over the years, but essentially have been the same style skates. But they don't have the Supremes and the Tacks names to fall back on. If they ride the Fuel name out for several years and keep those constant then they have a chance.

JR - Nobody who knows you and knows what you bring to this board can say you don't know what you're talking about. Clearly, you do.

But I'm confused. Are you saying dealers are to blame for low sales/Mission not getting a better name because they won't take a chance on the product? Because they won't stock more items, and won't stock higher end items?

Maybe I misunderstood your post, but that's the gist I got. And if it is correct, I can't really say I blame dealers' apprehensiveness toward them. I mean, you're in business to make money. Why would you bring in something that MIGHT bring in money (and only after a tough sell) when you can bring in stock that WILL make money?

I personally have used Mission everything (skates, gloves, sticks, etc.) for as long as I can remember. I look to buy Mission when I go into the stores or online. But I have to say, Mission's presence at the store level (at least in my area) is minimal. I have two LHSs that I go to and whenever I see stock, Mission is always the last to sell down. My one LHS has tons of Pulses just sitting on the racks, not moving an inch. Now that store took a chance by bringing in the sticks (choosing not to put more money into a "sure-sell" product), gave them a great location on the floor, the sticks are competitively priced to the online super-stores, and yet, there they are just sitting.

But that's the dealer's fault? Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the industry so obviously I don't know the ins and outs, but it seems to me that at that point, a dealer has done all they could to move product and it's the product/and or name that isn't doing their end of the sale.

[JR Boucicaut 3803]

Not exactly.

Let's get back on topic - inline skates.

[#96 0]

Not exactly.

Let's get back on topic - inline skates.

Haha - fair enough.

I do really like the line. I'm not gonna lie, the Burberry look to some of the stuff is a bit much for this hockey-style purist (I wear basic black everything), but the Lt. is right up my alley.

[mattzilla 0]

the Burberry ones make my pants tingle

[fatwabbit 93]

do we have the stiffness ratings of the skates?

[Justin 1933 134]

These skates do not have stiffness ratings, as the internals are completely different than the old skates that had those ratings.

[nickyb13 9]

very nice so how much are those gonna run?

[Justin 1933 134]

$49.99

[top-shelf 1]

They remind me of the old Injection pants for some reason...

[trogdor 0]

ya i like the look of thos skates i think they look great but the baby blue is a littlleee ehh panzyish.. if you understand where im comming from

[Patrick67 1]

Have you changed the design of this years pants? (I thinking especially above the knee)

Mission Wicked 5 and Mission 7500 pants both ripped on me just above the knee within the first three uses.... Not impressed at all.

Old D4 pant held up way longer, probably because it doesn't have that stretchy "flashy" material that rips to shreds asap.

[Justin 1933 134]

I believe the area that was ripping was where the Lycra was, and yes we have changed its location.

[stevoc 0]

These skates do not have stiffness ratings, as the internals are completely different than the old skates that had those ratings.

With that said, is it still safe to say the higher end skates are stiffer, and stiffness redueces as you down the line?

[Justin 1933 134]

Yes

[DaveTheWave 0]

I think its pretty rad that Mission is putting higher and higher quality parts on their less expensive skates. Not everyone wants to or can spend higher amounts, and it invites more kids to get started playing roller hockey. I remember my first skates at the same price range as the Soldier were wayyy inferior in terms of performance (I'm doing this on looks only, but still its apparent)

[rollerhockeymavin 0]

I think its pretty rad that Mission is putting higher and higher quality parts on their less expensive skates. Not everyone wants to or can spend higher amounts, and it invites more kids to get started playing roller hockey. I remember my first skates at the same price range as the Soldier were wayyy inferior in terms of performance (I'm doing this on looks only, but still its apparent)

Great point-You compare mission to any other inline hockey skate(skate vs. skate) to other manufacturers and mission is above the competition-just look at the boot, chassis, wheels, bearing, etc.