TRUE Hockey to acquire VH Footwear

[JR Boucicaut 3795]

TRUE Hockey has announced that they have finalized a deal to acquire VH Footwear. 

All of VH's staff, including Scott Van Horne, have been retained, as well as the manufacturing facility in Winnipeg. 

TRUE also plans to make a significant investment in the business in to people, facilities and R&D.

I have a call with them tomorrow.  If you have any questions, I can ask them; please post in this thread.

 

True Temper Sports Acquires VH Footwear - Nov 2016.pdf

 

 

[Monty22 832]

Seems like a great fit. Curious to see what the future holds for the skate line.

[shoeshine boy 242]

glad to hear that the staff has been retained. there's nothing I hate more than when a successful business is bought and then the new owner cuts corners and changes everything that made the business worth buying.

[vinprun71 61]

This is going to be awesome!

[shooter27 116]

Would love to know if they're going to stick to the custom-only model or will they be introducing a retail product?  My guess is that you have to go to a retail model to make it a profitable acquisition.

[GiancarloSFL 15]

15 minutes ago, shooter27 said:

Would love to know if they're going to stick to the custom-only model or will they be introducing a retail product?  My guess is that you have to go to a retail model to make it a profitable acquisition.

Yes will the full custom option be available? And how will this change the pricing structure?

[Buzz_LightBeer 969]

I hope it benefits all. True Blue would look great on a skate

[Stewie 721]

1 minute ago, Buzz_LightBeer said:

I hope it benefits all. True Blue would look great on a skate

cant look much worse ;)

question i may have is, does True plan on offering protective in the future as part of their expansion? or just sticking with adding skates for now.

[Buzz_LightBeer 969]

2 minutes ago, Stewie said:

cant look much worse ;)

question i may have is, does True plan on offering protective in the future as part of their expansion? or just sticking with adding skates for now.

Slowly, yes, wait for 2017, pants in addition to gloves

[Coldclay 53]

Hell ya! True is stepping up! Great timing, True has been building momentum and this is a great stride to expand their presence in the equipment field. Hope True will come up with something as close to custom VH as possible and make it more affordable to most.

[tpedersen3118 58]

Just saw True'S announcement of the deal on Facebook. I'll be following this thread closely as I've loved my A5.2 SBP stick and I'll be needing new skates in the next year or so but custom VH were a little out of reach. Exciting stuff!

[tpedersen3118 58]

I wonder if they would buy the Graf factory and use that for production as well? 

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

Could the pick an uglier looking skate for the email announcement they sent out?

[Hills 712]

5 minutes ago, tpedersen3118 said:

I wonder if they would buy the Graf factory and use that for production as well? 

I believe the Graf manufacturing stuff was moved to Vaughn Goalie in  Canada

[adam14 182]

My guess is their next step will be to design and develop a "cookie cutter" type skate that they can push at retail at a slightly lower price point to make them more attainable by the general public. As it stands, I would assume huge expansion would be required if they decide to go the custom route in every lhs in north america that carries True products.

[chippa13 1844]

My best is that short-term they will have "authorized dealers/sizers" where folks can get measured for VH customs rather than at home measuring/emailing and long-term there will be a stock offering at a couple of price points.

[flip12 714]

1 hour ago, Stewie said:

cant look much worse ;)

question i may have is, does True plan on offering protective in the future as part of their expansion? or just sticking with adding skates for now.

Best looking skate on the market though. Everything else looks like Halloween vomit sandwiched between some petrified cellophane and a carbon carpet.

[Larry54 243]

When VH Hockey started, they did have a non-custom option at $100 less than the custom. They discontinued it at some point to concentrate on Custom. Maybe they'll bring that or something like it back.

[Stewie 721]

2 hours ago, Buzz_LightBeer said:

Slowly, yes, wait for 2017, pants in addition to gloves

so a focus on the visible protective first, makes sense.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Finally official! 

Im excited for this as a user and believer in both companies products. 

[trtaylor 3]

All those Mako fans may get their wish. At least something closer than Bauer or (maybe) CCM were going to provide.

And speaking of, does anyone know where Dave Cruikshank ended up?

[Coldclay 53]

Ghost of Mako!!!

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

I just hope they retain the custom aspect of VH.  True's made some great inroads with their sticks, interested to see what VH does with some backing.

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

3 hours ago, flip12 said:

Best looking skate on the market though. Everything else looks like Halloween vomit sandwiched between some petrified cellophane and a carbon carpet.

simply a personal opinion but I think they are ugly.  

 

[flip12 714]

3 minutes ago, dkmiller3356 said:

simply a personal opinion but I think they are ugly.  

 

True. Just wanted the opposing personal opinion represented.