Dressed Skates?

[CigarScott 132]

Another random thought that has been bouncing around in my head:

We all know that stick manufacturers dress sticks for one reason or another. I've always wondered if skate manufacturers did the same thing for marketing purposes or players wanted a discontinued model or some kind of franken-skate. I was working the penalty box at my local college game tonight and being the nerd that I am, talk gear with the players when in there, if they're in a good mood. I noticed one player was wearing Nexus 1N skates but they were really narrow and started chatting about them. He said that he picked them up from a St. Louis Blues pro stock sale and said that they were Vapors dressed as Nexus 1N. Has anyone ever heard of this or was he given some bad info?

[Sniper9 530]

I always assumed this was the case even though I've never read about it. But this should pretty much confirm it...

These are definitely not ft2s and likely his jetspeeds dresser as ft2s. The outsole is a huge give away. 

[gosinger 122]

The Nexus dressed Vapors are the "V-Cut" version, essentially a Vapor x:60 / x7.0 which was the most popular Vapor in the pre-Curv days. This skate is available to teams directly as team-stock, and also available for custom skates.

However once it gets to "regular" players, that is as far as redressing goes - Connor might get a pair of redressed skates, but everyone else "just" gets custom (players select their heel/forefoot width, get custom molds, etc).

 

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

CCM had a long practice of still making skate models as long as they still had the components for it (looks like they're changing that with those McDavid skates); as opposed to Bauer offering skates like the Nexus Mosoca/V-Cut and the ClassicONE from several years back.

 

[VegasHockey 1280]

These actually look like a mash up between a FT2, FT1 and first generation Jet Speed. 

[flip12 715]

In the 90’s, old Microns and Daousts were semi-dressed as Bauers; “semi” because not as completely as the ClassicOnes or Mosocas (Bourque, Konstantinov, Ysebaert, Brown).

Nike did it with their earliest skates, adding Nike branding and the overall weird extra vents and panels to what I’ve read were usually Supreme skates. I’ve also read Graf made some of Fedorov’s and Kovalev’s Nikes, but I’ve never come across visual evidence of that in either case. I’m especially skeptical when it comes to Kovalev because I’ve never come across any image or footage of him wearing Grafs.

Brian Rafalski is maybe the most interesting example of dressed skates I know of. After switching from Tacks to Mission Amp Flys, he didn’t wear another skate until Mission was bought out and he jumped into V60s. Yet, through that period from 2001 to 2009, Rafalski’s Amp Flys were dressed to match Mission’s current offering as much as possible (originals, 1st, 2nd, 3rd dressing).

Edited February 9, 2019 by flip12
Added image links

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

Lidstrom's Eastons were the same way; they were reverse-engineered Bauer 4000s.  Wore those for a long time under different looks until they forced him to wear Synergy boots - I sharpened his skates before he went to training camp; Easton was on the 1500 model and his were the originals!  Did that for a year then switched to Warrior (and Bauer for skates.)

Graf did not make Nike skates for Fedorov.

[flip12 715]

1 hour ago, JR Boucicaut said:

Lidstrom's Eastons were the same way; they were reverse-engineered Bauer 4000s.  Wore those for a long time under different looks until they forced him to wear Synergy boots - I sharpened his skates before he went to training camp; Easton was on the 1500 model and his were the originals!  Did that for a year then switched to Warrior (and Bauer for skates.)

Graf did not make Nike skates for Fedorov.

Thanks! I was inclined to think that rumor was false.

[the_game 452]

side note, wish mission was still around as their own entity. They were on to some good stuff.

[GoalForFun 176]

I saw with CCMs new monocoque skates that they can just print whatever graphics on the quarter package. I remember Burns is/was in Jetspeeds but they were skinned to look like AS1s.