Why white?

[MaximRecoil 7]

In the early days of plastic blade holders, they were generally black by default, which made sense, given that skates are generally black by default as well (I've always thought of white as a color for women's figure skates). For example, here is Team USA in 1980; black Tuuks everywhere. We know this is in the early days of plastic holders, because in 1976, there was no plastic in sight.

Then, by the mid-1980s, white plastic was the new trend, as can be seen in this picture from the 1984 Olympics. This trend continued until the mid-1990s when Bauer introduced the seminal Supreme Composite skates with black Tuuks, and suddenly, a lot of players were Back in Black, as can be seen here. And it wasn't just Bauer with the Comps, but soon thereafter, other models from Bauer had black Tuuks as well, and other Canstar skates did too (e.g., Daoust, Micron), and CCM followed suit with black SLM and Pro-Lite 3 holders for their skates.

Then in the early 2000s, everyone was back to white holders again, and as far as I know, it has stayed that way to this day.

So what is it with white, sticks-out-like-a-sore-thumb, same-color-as-girl's-figure-skates plastic?

Darth Vader trumps a storm trooper.

[KyleNeuhaus 0]

I have Bauer Vapor X60 LE's, which feature black tuuks, and I am very satisfied with the all-black theme my skates have going on. I have always thought that white holders were just standard, but then again, I have never fully looked into it. That being said, now that I have black tuuks, I don't ever want to go back!

[MaximRecoil 7]

I have Bauer Vapor X60 LE's, which feature black tuuks, and I am very satisfied with the all-black theme my skates have going on. I have always thought that white holders were just standard, but then again, I have never fully looked into it. That being said, now that I have black tuuks, I don't ever want to go back!

Well, I didn't really look into it either; I just remember the black vs. white holder trends (my earliest skating memories are about from 1979 when I was 4, which was near the beginning of the plastic holder era), and then I looked up some pictures online for examples when I made this post.

[mc88 160]

Just a wild guess: Could be cost. Black plastic seems to be used more often in electronics, toys, utensils, car interiors/exteriors, tv dinner trays, etc, etc... than white plastic. Also, whenever I think of white plastic, I usually think of quality (hard to hide bad craftsmanship, imperfections or cracks) and it appeals to a more modern demographic (for example, the number one selling truck color is white).

[Gummer12 134]

The black dye used made them structurally inferior. Also, unofficially, black tuuk's make you look slower on the ice.

[icewalker_bg 126]

I thought its because 90% of people find black holders ugly as f.

[dsjunior1388 81]

The black dye used made them structurally inferior. Also, unofficially, black tuuk's make you look slower on the ice.

I always feel like black holders make you look slower, heavier in the foot, and give the illusion that your skates are too big for your feet. Can't shake it.

[MaximRecoil 7]

Just a wild guess: Could be cost. Black plastic seems to be used more often in electronics, toys, utensils, car interiors/exteriors, tv dinner trays, etc, etc... than white plastic. Also, whenever I think of white plastic, I usually think of quality (hard to hide bad craftsmanship, imperfections or cracks) and it appeals to a more modern demographic (for example, the number one selling truck color is white).

That's probably because of fleet trucks, which are nearly always white. White used to be the cheapest vehicle paint color option (I'm not sure if that's still the case or not), and fleet trucks are the cheapest, most bare bones trucks you can get, and they are bought by the hundreds or even thousands at a time by companies. But either way, in the truck/skates-with-white-holders analogy, the truck would be black and its tires would be white. I don't think white tires will be making a comeback anytime soon.

[MaximRecoil 7]

The black dye used made them structurally inferior.

Is that actually true or are you joking? The Remington Nylon 66 rifle (Nylon Zytel, like Tuuks) "Apache Black" model was black; all of those guns were legendary for their toughness, as well as their ability to function in extreme cold (because they didn't need lubrication due to the self-lubricating properties of nylon; lubricants can gum up in extremely cold weather). Remington famously did demonstrations where they would drive over a Nylon 66 with a pickup truck, and then proceed to fire many shots from it without issue. That was all many decades ago (they were first made in 1959), and today, black plastic (though not necessarily Nylon Zytel) is used extensively in guns.

[IPv6Freely 2096]

Why are we talking about guns all of a sudden?

[MaximRecoil 7]

Why are we talking about guns all of a sudden?

Did you read my post?

Claim: "The black dye used made them structurally inferior."

In response, I gave an example of a product which made extensive use of black Zytel (the same material both black and white Tuuks are made of) that was legendary for its toughness, as opposed to being structurally inferior due to black dye.

[GiffhipcheckNH 5]

if you look at this older somewhat related thread there are some good tid bits about the evolution of the various colored (and my favorite original clear (1983 variety)) Tuuks and the migration from polycarobonate (lexan) to a Zytel (nylon) based product and the impact it had on colors:

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php/topic/16114-clear-tuuk-retro-factor/

[MaximRecoil 7]

if you look at this older somewhat related thread there are some good tid bits about the evolution of the various colored (and my favorite original clear (1983 variety)) Tuuks and the migration from polycarobomate (lexan) to a Zytel (nylon) based product and the impact it had on colors:

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php/topic/16114-clear-tuuk-retro-factor/

Coincidentally, I read that thread last night. It is an interesting thread. From post #34 by DarkStar50:

Timber is dead on. The first generation of clear Tuuks was the black Tuuk 2000 polycarbonate minus the black dye. The old black Tuuk 2000 had a totally plastic feel and sound when you flicked them with your finger nail. I do not recall a white Tuuk 2000 polycarbonate. I think the first white Tuuk was just "Tuuk" on the side of the holder in raised letters, not Tuuk 2000. That was probably the first zytel Tuuk. The zytel has the "softer" plastic feel and not the "tinny" sound when you flicked them with a finger nail. The breakage on polycarbonate Tuuks was atrocious. For a while, the idea was the black dye might have had something to do with breakage. This spurred the clear Tuuk 2000 into production. Of course, it made no difference in breakage, clear vs black. This is late 70s/early 80s time frame when RD & D was next to nothing for $. Basically, the marketplace was the testing place.

Emphasis mine

If that's correct, then the idea that black dye was compromising the structure only applied to Lexan Tuuks, which resulted in the no-dye-added clear Lexan Tuuks, and the idea turned out to be false.

So, it seems that the first Tuuks from the late '70s and early '80s were black Lexan, and these are what we see everyone using in the 1980 Winter Olympics. They had breakage problems, eliminated the black dye based on a hunch that it was weakening the Lexan, resulting in clear Lexan Tuuks in ~1983. Those had the same breakage problems as the black Lexan Tuuks, and then they introduced the Zytel Tuuks, in white, which we can see in the 1984 Olympics. Zytel became the standard material for Tuuks, and other colors followed, e.g., black, blue, red. Since I don't know of any source of an official authoritative history of Tuuks, this will have to do for now I guess.

Ironically, one of the toughest plastic holders ever made was mostly found on ultra cheap department store skates such as Sherbrooke, Canadian Flyer, and American Wildcats. They were made by SLM; they were mostly solid (thus relatively heavy) rather than mostly hollow like Tuuks, and they were made from DuPont Zytel (they had the words "Nylon Zytel" molded right into them). Despite being practically indestructible, the blades were permanently molded into them, and the steel was probably relatively low quality. Older ones were black, newer ones (starting in about '84) were white (but still had the picture of black holders on the box).

[All Flash 49]

Minus any manufacturing issues and costs I would say white is the color of choice because the puck is black and the ice is white IMHO.

[BrondonZA 0]

I heard a story of the gaps on old black holders being wide and that pucks easily got stuck in them , there was a rumor that one game they went a period without noticing that the puck was stuck in one of the players holders.

Not sure if its true but that's only what I heard

[boo10 323]

The original plastic holders did have openings large enough for the puck to get wedged, (I know this because it happened to me personally back in the late 70's). Having said that, it is highly unlikely that that would be a reason for changing the colour of the holders.

[raganblink 82]

It could have to do with losing the puck in your feet. Not that it should matter from your own perspective, but the perspective of your teammates or opponents. I did have the one95 and then the one100 LE and could not tell a difference.

There are also more people who didn't want to buy the one60/100 LE because of the black holder. They liked the all-black aspect of the boot, but not the holder aspect. It was awesome though for a retailer, we sold a half dozen holders to fit onto brand new skates because they really didn't want black holders. We'd definitely sell more holders if anyone or everyone came out with black holders stock throughout the line.