Bauer acquires Cascade

[DarkStar50 679]

http://insidelacrosse.com/ilgear/news/2012/06/13/bauer-acquires-cascade-64-million

http://www.timescolonist.com/business/Bauer+Cascade+helmets/6780794/story.html

“The acquisition of Cascade increases our presence in North America’s fastest growing team sport, and allows us to expand our product offering in our core hockey business through the use of Cascade’s proprietary helmet technology and manufacturing capabilities,” said Kevin Davis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bauer Performance Sports.

We'll take what they did, use it in our products, and go from there.................

[PMurphy17 25]

I really love reading posts after a hockey brand buys another brand. Its almost the same as reading Kim Kardasian tweets.

Kill Cascade label everything Bauer. Is Bauer a real player in lacrosse or do they just want to be thought of as a real player so they can push lesser products on retailers to take market share.

Helmet customization?? Who the hell needs custom helmets? Bauer actually started this trend http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TwAbZhMGVEw/TIQ3jZfT61I/AAAAAAAAK5o/EAmYFzv0Jgs/s1600/fraser.jpg

Congrats to Bauer for pushing helmet safety back to 1982. They bring in a guy who never wore a certified helmet to talk helmet/head safety. Funny that Messier wore a helmet model that offered the most padding and shell coverage and never got concussions.

[chippa13 1844]

You have to attribute some of Messier's concussion-less to luck. Randy Burridge wore the same thing and he suffered at least one concussion that I could find with a google search.

[PMurphy17 25]

You have to attribute some of Messier's concussion-less to luck. Randy Burridge wore the same thing and he suffered at least one concussion that I could find with a google search.

Probably because Burridge wore the Cooper version instead of the trusty WinnWell model. (tongue in cheek)

[AIREAYE 248]

I really love reading posts after a hockey brand buys another brand. Its almost the same as reading Kim Kardasian tweets.

Kill Cascade label everything Bauer. Is Bauer a real player in lacrosse or do they just want to be thought of as a real player so they can push lesser products on retailers to take market share.

Helmet customization?? Who the hell needs custom helmets? Bauer actually started this trend http://3.bp.blogspot...1600/fraser.jpg

Congrats to Bauer for pushing helmet safety back to 1982. They bring in a guy who never wore a certified helmet to talk helmet/head safety. Funny that Messier wore a helmet model that offered the most padding and shell coverage and never got concussions.

Why would you scoff at custom helmets? It makes more sense at a retail level than custom sticks. With the increasing consumer awareness for the need for a perfect fitting helmet, combined with the releases of the Re-Akt at its pricepoint or the S19/E700 one-piece design, I can easily see a module or program setup at select stores that offer a custom helmet fitting similar to skates.

Consumers can pick shell designs, foam types, thicknesses, colors, micro adjustment features etc and have each foam piece fitted to their head for the least amount of negative space possible.

If you had suggested programs like MyBauer or Warrior in the past, you'd have most people scoff at the need for a custom stick too. I mean, people still do scoff at it but as with everything, attitudes change. With something as important as a helmet, it absolutely makes sense and I'm not afraid to put it out there.

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

Consumers can pick shell designs, foam types, thicknesses, colors, micro adjustment features etc and have each foam piece fitted to their head for the least amount of negative space possible.

You do realize helmets need certification, right? Nobody in their right mind will do that...that's why custom goal masks aren't certified. If you mess with anything internal other than what the helmet was tested at, it is not certified. HUGE can of worms opened there.

The term you're looking for is customized - color and accents. Nothing more, nothing less.

But the difference between Bauer and Cascade in that aspect is that they use two distinct business models when it comes to helmets - Bauer offers the custom colors but they are done in team sets, nor do they have accent pieces on them like Cascade does.

[AIREAYE 248]

I do realize that, that doesn't make it impossible, I still think it can be done even though at the moment, it takes a huge amount of resources to certify a helmet.

[PMurphy17 25]

Why would you scoff at custom helmets? It makes more sense at a retail level than custom sticks. With the increasing consumer awareness for the need for a perfect fitting helmet, combined with the releases of the Re-Akt at its pricepoint or the S19/E700 one-piece design, I can easily see a module or program setup at select stores that offer a custom helmet fitting similar to skates.

Consumers can pick shell designs, foam types, thicknesses, colors, micro adjustment features etc and have each foam piece fitted to their head for the least amount of negative space possible.

If you had suggested programs like MyBauer or Warrior in the past, you'd have most people scoff at the need for a custom stick too. I mean, people still do scoff at it but as with everything, attitudes change. With something as important as a helmet, it absolutely makes sense and I'm not afraid to put it out there.

Custom helmets make no sense at retail. The unit volumes of standard colours to custom colour would be absurd. Want vs Need. Not sure how the release of any model is justification for a custom program. Your comparison of sticks and skates are baseless. Both items have idiosyncrasies to an individual person (flex/curve/length or length/width/etc) that could positively affect performance. Having a black shell, with purple ear loops, green chin strap and yellow fit flaps has no affect on play.

You will never be able to do any of your suggested custom selections because of the CSA testing procedures. You would need to create a helmet a mockup for every custom for testing and then test it. Plus unless things have changed I believe helmets are tested in lots. So many of an amount get tested if one fails they all fail, ie. 1 out of 250 fail all 250 fail.

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

I do realize that, that doesn't make it impossible, I still think it can be done even though at the moment, it takes a huge amount of resources to certify a helmet.

In the certification process' current iteration, it is impossible.

Read up on how helmets are certified, and you'll see why.

[althoma1 574]

Anyway - spoke to Steve Jones from Bauer this morning; we will do a Q&A with them on this deal. So, please, ask questions; I will redirect to Steve who will answer them and we'll compile it all.

Questions (I know it's not realistic to expect straight answers to all of these at this point, but this is what I'd like to know so I'll put it out there):

Will the M11 Pro continue to be available at multiple retailers or will it be closed out at one big e-tailer/retailer (like most of the Mission NME stuff was with Hockeymonkey)? I know it's a bit of a different situation here since the NME wasn't widely avaialbe and the M11 Pro is already available at some places (at least seems to be at US e-taliers...haven't been able to find it at a LHS in the GTA just yet).

Will the Cascade seven technology be tested directly against high end Bauer helmets like the RE-AKT in a lab setting so that the best features of each helmet can be utilized?

Will the seven technology and microdial adjustment features be used on future Bauer helmets?

Are the hockey helmet designers at Cascade being kept on staff at Bauer?

[AIREAYE 248]

Custom helmets make no sense at retail. The unit volumes of standard colours to custom colour would be absurd. Want vs Need. Not sure how the release of any model is justification for a custom program. Your comparison of sticks and skates are baseless. Both items have idiosyncrasies to an individual person (flex/curve/length or length/width/etc) that could positively affect performance. Having a black shell, with purple ear loops, green chin strap and yellow fit flaps has no affect on play.

You will never be able to do any of your suggested custom selections because of the CSA testing procedures. You would need to create a helmet a mockup for every custom for testing and then test it. Plus unless things have changed I believe helmets are tested in lots. So many of an amount get tested if one fails they all fail, ie. 1 out of 250 fail all 250 fail.

My point was not about colors or earloops or whatever, but about the guts. I also do not think that anyone NEEDS a custom stick at a retail level (pro is another story), even though I have a custom Warrior myself. It seems to work right now, judging solely by the availability of Warrior and Bauer (if they're not making any money than that's something else); people WANT and are definitely willing to pay for custom sticks, no doubt. However, I believe everyone NEEDS a close-fitting helmet, as close as possible to perfect. The vast majority of people fit absolutely fine in stock, but there are those who don't and there will soon be more people who might want to go after that great fit+. Never said anything about new helmets justifying the need for this, I was just highlighting some different schemes and innovations coming out.

I completely understand the fact that current testing standards make it extremely difficult (or impossible as JR pointed out) for this to happen.

In the certification process' current iteration, it is impossible.

Read up on how helmets are certified, and you'll see why.

Understood, I still think it could happen in the future. This cannot happen now, nor even in the near future, of that I'm not delusional lol

http://www.csa-international.org/how_get_started/4steps/

This is it, correct?

[chippa13 1844]

Manufacturers aren't going to want Joe Hockey Player picking and choosing what goes into the guts of their helmets. The possibility for liability issues would be too great.

[althoma1 574]

hmmm, where is the $$ coming from?

Bauer says it will pay for the deal by issuing $30 million in new stock and borrowing $34 million (U.S.). Source: http://www.thestar.c...-64-million-u-s

The company said it has signed a deal with a syndicate of underwriters to sell 3.21 million shares to the public at a price of $7.80 per share to raise $25 million.

Bauer has also signed a deal with Kohlberg Management VI, LLC, for an additional 642,000 shares at the same price to raise an additional $5 million.

[DarkStar50 679]

Thank you. That's what I'm looking for.

[jsykes 35]

I'm with JR on this. Gut says they wanted the lax business and some of the manufacturing facilities/technology that Cascade had and that is why they're mainly spending the money.

A terrific side effect for them is they get to eliminate one of their direct competitors in hockey.

While the logic behind Seven techonology makes a TON of sense, Bauer has spent a lot of money arguing against it and developing their own new "best defense" against concussions in the Re-Akt. They're not going to now backtrack on that since they own Cascade.

In the past, the things that have stuck around when they've acquired other companies are the ones that Bauer didnt really have a stonghold in to begin with. Things they did have good product in (like the Mission helmet and skates) went away.

My gut says same here. They keep what they dont currently have (lax) and discard what they do (m11).

I'm interested in how this turns out. Last year, my shop sold as many M11 helmets as I sold all Bauer helmets combined. It will be interesting how that will affect sales should Bauer eliminate Cascade. Will my sales just move to Bauer or another brand, or do I lose some of those sales since many people were coming to specificlly buy the M11 technology.

We'll see what happens.

[althoma1 574]

I'm with JR on this. Gut says they wanted the lax business and some of the manufacturing facilities/technology that Cascade had and that is why they're mainly spending the money.

A terrific side effect for them is they get to eliminate one of their direct competitors in hockey.

While the logic behind Seven techonology makes a TON of sense, Bauer has spent a lot of money arguing against it and developing their own new "best defense" against concussions in the Re-Akt. They're not going to now backtrack on that since they own Cascade.

In the past, the things that have stuck around when they've acquired other companies are the ones that Bauer didnt really have a stonghold in to begin with. Things they did have good product in (like the Mission helmet and skates) went away.

My gut says same here. They keep what they dont currently have (lax) and discard what they do (m11).

I'm interested in how this turns out. Last year, my shop sold as many M11 helmets as I sold all Bauer helmets combined. It will be interesting how that will affect sales should Bauer eliminate Cascade. Will my sales just move to Bauer or another brand, or do I lose some of those sales since many people were coming to specificlly buy the M11 technology.

We'll see what happens.

I also feel that both you and JR are correct, however; I'm hoping at least some testing is done on the performance and safety of the RE-AKT type helmet vs. the Cascade seven technology before the seven technology is discountinued. It'd be a shame if the seven technology did in fact create a safer helmet in most respects, but was disguarded without significant testing to see if it could be incorporated into Bauer helmets.

[cgrays12 0]

Thank you cgrays12.ouch that's embarassing, I had no clue NBH only lasted a few years...

But yes are they going to keep maverik lacrosse and cascade as separate entities..I'd be interested to see.

no worries man, its been known to happen haha.

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

My point was not about colors or earloops or whatever, but about the guts. I also do not think that anyone NEEDS a custom stick at a retail level (pro is another story), even though I have a custom Warrior myself. It seems to work right now, judging solely by the availability of Warrior and Bauer (if they're not making any money than that's something else); people WANT and are definitely willing to pay for custom sticks, no doubt. However, I believe everyone NEEDS a close-fitting helmet, as close as possible to perfect. The vast majority of people fit absolutely fine in stock, but there are those who don't and there will soon be more people who might want to go after that great fit+. Never said anything about new helmets justifying the need for this, I was just highlighting some different schemes and innovations coming out.

I completely understand the fact that current testing standards make it extremely difficult (or impossible as JR pointed out) for this to happen.

Understood, I still think it could happen in the future. This cannot happen now, nor even in the near future, of that I'm not delusional lol

http://www.csa-inter...started/4steps/

This is it, correct?

How do you propose that to be done? Walk into a shop and get measured?

What happens when the wearer gets a concussion? Who does he sue? The mfgr or the fitter?

Like I said, huge can of worms.

Yes, that is the CSA process. As was stated, they test a batch of helmets.

Now the "impossible" part starts - so, let's say you offer three shells with three thickness and three foam types; each of those features has to be certified ASSEMBLED - you can't give them the parts and be like "Test this." So, 9 possible combinations per shell - you have three, so 27. Add 3 sizes per shell. That is 81 UNIQUE helmet samples, and you have to provide them with a lot, let's go and say 100 per. So, that's 8100 helmets to CSA and 8100 to HECC - 16,200 helmets you HOPE pass before you get the right to sell ONE, as opposed to 600 (1 helmet model, 3 sizes, 100 per to each agency)

And that's just North America.

[AIREAYE 248]

Yes and then you add CE. I get that part.

Yes, sort of like fitting for a pair of custom skates.

How about having the customer sign a waiver?

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

If the better fit is a safety benefit, why would you have to sign a waiver?

[Chadd 916]

Waiver won't stop lawsuits, they never do.

[Pure Hockey 4]

Seems pretty simple from our perspective - acquire patents/technology, keep expanding in lacrosse.

[bar down 1]

bauer would rather have a second brand and all it market then scrap it and loose some of its market to other brands imo they would

[Chadd 916]

bauer would rather have a second brand and all it market then scrap it and loose some of its market to other brands imo they would

As it has been pointed out, that's not what happened with Mission ice hockey gear. Hell, they have even since come out with a third Bauer product line since they canned the mission ice hockey line.

[AIREAYE 248]

Forgive me, I don't know too much about the legal side of things, but I'm definitely intrigued by the responses to one of my lightbulb 'If only...' ideas haha, thanks Chadd/JR.