I help submit your custom goalie orders. Ask me (almost) anything

[PepperDoodle]

Hi folks,

When you order your custom set through your favorite retailer, your specs are finalized by someone to make sure they make sense before they are sent off to the factory. I do this in addition to other stuff within my company. Ask me just about anything you can think of when you're doing custom orders, and i'll give you honest answers. 

[mr_shifty1982]

Sounds like spam to me lol

[PepperDoodle]

7 minutes ago, mr_shifty1982 said:

Sounds like spam to me lol

It's not. I've been with my retailer for a little over 3 years. Feel free to ask any questions you may have about custom options, i've done quite a number, with a few crazy spec requests here and there. 

[SaveByRichter35]

2 hours ago, PepperDoodle said:

It's not. I've been with my retailer for a little over 3 years. Feel free to ask any questions you may have about custom options, i've done quite a number, with a few crazy spec requests here and there. 

By which retailer are you employed?

[Chenner29]

9 minutes ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

By which retailer are you employed?

Mods have access to the email address used to register and confirm on here...click his profile and you'll see

[SaveByRichter35]

5 minutes ago, Chenner29 said:

Mods have access to the email address used to register and confirm on here...click his profile and you'll see

I am aware of that, thanks.

[coopaloop1234]

What's the typical margin on the sale of a custom set?

[mr_shifty1982]

Can he tell me where my pads are? In China or out? Lol

[PepperDoodle]

On 9/3/2020 at 5:58 PM, coopaloop1234 said:

What's the typical margin on the sale of a custom set?

Depends on the vendor and any specials specs that are requested. I can't get into specifics money wise unfortunately. 

[PepperDoodle]

1 minute ago, mr_shifty1982 said:

Can he tell me where my pads are? In China or out? Lol

Where they're made? 

Bauer and CCM = taiwan

Brian's = canada

Vaughn = US if you order through an American retailer, Ontario if you are based in Canada. 

Warrior = taiwan or Thailand, I'd have to check a box again to be sure. 

[PepperDoodle]

On 9/3/2020 at 5:31 PM, SaveByRichter35 said:

By which retailer are you employed?

I'm with GM for 2 more weeks before moving on to a new career path, but I figured I could answer any questions people have about custom ordering. If you've custom ordered through us I've probably seen it or worked on it in some way. 

[keeperton]

Were you around when it was still Hockey Giant?

What customizations are generally least worth it, monetarily and/or functionally, in your opinion?

What things have surprised you the most and what things have surprised you the least?

How are you doing?

[PepperDoodle]

3 minutes ago, keeperton said:

Were you around when it was still Hockey Giant?

What customizations are generally least worth it, monetarily and/or functionally, in your opinion?

What things have surprised you the most and what things have surprised you the least?

How are you doing?

HI keeperton! I am actually with Goalie Monkey. Giant was absorbed by Pure. 

In my personal opinion I'm not a proponent of the Brian's floating-T requests. The pockets on both gloves are already deep as is, I'd rather save the $50 it usually costs. I've had someone do a +1 floating anchor-T with skate lace and it arrived looking like a fishing net. I think that one was around $75 or $100. To me it didn't make sense, we threw a puck into it and you got zero feedback in hour hand, but our guy loved it so that's all that matters. 

What surprises me the most is how all of the pricing and ordering works. If you've ever done procurement work you'd have a good idea. There's a lot of back and forth with my reps at the factories about what they can and cannot do when I send them a customer's order. If you were to see the costs of materials to build stuff, the cost to pay their employees, the cost to keep their lights on, the cost of R&D, then you'd really understand how slim margins are in this industry at all points. 

What surprises me the least is WHY your custom order takes forever to arrive. Let's say you ordered from Brian's right now tonight. We put together your form and submit it to the factory in the next day or two. We get an ETA soon after. They enter your order into their calendar and start about a week or two later. They'll cut and embroider your stuff the next week, then it gets the foams inserted 2 weeks or so later. Now it sits in a bin while your gloves get started over the next 2 or 3 weeks. Remember tho, you are just one of fifty orders they received that day alone. Repeat this same process over and over with a staff of 50 or less, and you quickly realize why it takes 8-14 weeks for it to deliver to you. Now on top of this, they have to build ALL the pro orders, and ALL the retail stock orders for the stores. It can be daunting at some points. 

Lastly I'm doing good considering all the coronvirus stuff affecting every day life. 

Hope that helps! 

 

[dstew29]

@PepperDoodle For a first timer to custom orders, I'd likely have to choose specs based on internet visuals and recommendations from someone like you. In your experience have you been able to get orders like I'm describing right most of the time? Or do you highly recommend getting to a physical store to see some of the specs in person before making that investment? For context, if I go the Lefevre route I'd probably have to drive 4+ hours to a store that carries them which I doubt will be possible for me.

[PepperDoodle]

4 minutes ago, dstew29 said:

@PepperDoodle For a first timer to custom orders, I'd likely have to choose specs based on internet visuals and recommendations from someone like you. In your experience have you been able to get orders like I'm describing right most of the time? Or do you highly recommend getting to a physical store to see some of the specs in person before making that investment? For context, if I go the Lefevre route I'd probably have to drive 4+ hours to a store that carries them which I doubt will be possible for me.

Hi Dstew29!

I feel like you can still get your sizing and specs right even if you haven't seen the gear, but to be quite honest, there's nothing like visiting the store in person to try on everything. I will always highly recommend going to a store that has what you wanna try, bring your skates, (goalie)pants optional, and just strap'em on; but it's not impossible to do it all online if you take your time.

The MOST important thing for me when I help customers, is figuring out your leg pad size. That is where major problems happen in custom orders. Remember that every brand fits different. "But why?" is a frequent follow up question. It's because all of the vendors are limited by the NHL in what sizes and specs they can build into their goalie equipment, and all of that trickles down to the retail level. They cater to the pro's first, then it comes back down to you. 

Remember, your knee needs to be in the upper-third of the knee block in order for you to have a proper, flush, solid seal to the ice. Take a leg pad and lay it down on the ground, now put your knee down on it like you're in your butterfly. You should barely, if at all, see any suregrip/nylon/mesh/whatever, in front of your knee when you are looking down. You want that entire block to be covered by your knee. This is because when you are sliding to your outside/leading leg or post, your foot naturally wants to get there first, and the pad follows. What happens when you've got long toe ties or no boot strap? Foot goes first, pad follows second. If you sized your pads to where your knee is only landing right smack in the middle or lower, you'll see that your knee is actually slipping down into the leg channel, causing the block itself to tilt backward to your foot, which then causes the thigh rise of your pad to lift off the ice. If your knee starts out at the top of that block, you now have a much greater surface area to slide into. 

So do your FTK (or ATK) whichever one that brand recommends you measure by in their fit guide. Line it up with their chart. Don't be afraid to try 1 inch smaller in the knee. It can make a massive difference in fit and feel. Many pro goalies are between 32-34 with just a few 35's and 36's sprinkled in. 

My general rule of thumb I go by is take your ATK, that is center of your inside ankle bone, go straight up to the knee (stop just under the center of your knee cap) - multiply this by two. This is your TOTAL pad size to reach mid-thigh. Now subtract 1 or 2" depending on preference (I usually say 2" for folks with shorter heights) - now you have your knee+thigh sizing. Example: My ATK is 16.5" (I am 5'7") - multiply by two, my total pad size is 33", but surprise! Due to my short shins and longer thighs, I need to drop down in the knee. I have to wear between a 30+3.5 and 31+2.5 to get my desired height, all dependent on boot cut and knee block build. 

Hope this helps! Ask away if you have any more questions. 

[Leo]

8 hours ago, PepperDoodle said:

Where they're made? 

Bauer and CCM = taiwan

Brian's = canada

Vaughn = US if you order through an American retailer, Ontario if you are based in Canada. 

Warrior = taiwan or Thailand, I'd have to check a box again to be sure. 

Hi @PepperDoodle   I think there is two version about
CCM  one is made in Canada, one is made in China. two price are huge different.
and about Bauer are made in Thailand.

[PepperDoodle]

4 hours ago, Leo said:

Hi @PepperDoodle   I think there is two version about
CCM  one is made in Canada, one is made in China. two price are huge different.
and about Bauer are made in Thailand.

CCM goalie is entirely overseas as of last fall. The Axis gear Saaros and Rittich are wearing are overseas. Only their R&D, custom skates, and home office are left in Canada. Lefevre is still in Canada, but they are not partnered with CCM anymore so any pros who wanna try purely CCM branded stuff, will get it from overseas. They now have to pick from the same options that you get at retail due to streamlining of the factory equipment, which is partly why you're seeing a lot of pros try out the blank faced Lefevre stuff, it's just what they've worn for the past 20 something years. 

Yeha it was either Taiwan or Thailand, one of those two. I mix them up a bit. You'll see the origin on the box when you receive your gear. 

[benner33]

11 hours ago, PepperDoodle said:

HI keeperton! I am actually with Goalie Monkey. Giant was absorbed by Pure. 

In my personal opinion I'm not a proponent of the Brian's floating-T requests. The pockets on both gloves are already deep as is, I'd rather save the $50 it usually costs. I've had someone do a +1 floating anchor-T with skate lace and it arrived looking like a fishing net. I think that one was around $75 or $100. To me it didn't make sense, we threw a puck into it and you got zero feedback in hour hand, but our guy loved it so that's all that matters. 

What surprises me the most is how all of the pricing and ordering works. If you've ever done procurement work you'd have a good idea. There's a lot of back and forth with my reps at the factories about what they can and cannot do when I send them a customer's order. If you were to see the costs of materials to build stuff, the cost to pay their employees, the cost to keep their lights on, the cost of R&D, then you'd really understand how slim margins are in this industry at all points. 

 

What surprises me the least is WHY your custom order takes forever to arrive. Let's say you ordered from Brian's right now tonight. We put together your form and submit it to the factory in the next day or two. We get an ETA soon after. They enter your order into their calendar and start about a week or two later. They'll cut and embroider your stuff the next week, then it gets the foams inserted 2 weeks or so later. Now it sits in a bin while your gloves get started over the next 2 or 3 weeks. Remember tho, you are just one of fifty orders they received that day alone. Repeat this same process over and over with a staff of 50 or less, and you quickly realize why it takes 8-14 weeks for it to deliver to you. Now on top of this, they have to build ALL the pro orders, and ALL the retail stock orders for the stores. It can be daunting at some points. 

Lastly I'm doing good considering all the coronvirus stuff affecting every day life. 

Hope that helps! 

 

So I did my first custom orders this year (Brian’s C/A + Pants and Warrior G5) I didn’t know what could be asked for and wish I did. For example I’ve emailed Brian’s support twice asking if I could get replacement arms with nylon or poly mesh rather than air knit. I thought I picked a color not a material (the C/A is hard to get into even my largest jerseys). 
 

For future reference what’s a good way to know what could be asked for?

[coopaloop1234]

15 hours ago, PepperDoodle said:

Depends on the vendor and any specials specs that are requested. I can't get into specifics money wise unfortunately. 

A ball park would suffice.

[PepperDoodle]

55 minutes ago, benner33 said:

So I did my first custom orders this year (Brian’s C/A + Pants and Warrior G5) I didn’t know what could be asked for and wish I did. For example I’ve emailed Brian’s support twice asking if I could get replacement arms with nylon or poly mesh rather than air knit. I thought I picked a color not a material (the C/A is hard to get into even my largest jerseys). 
 

For future reference what’s a good way to know what could be asked for?

You could always send an email to your retailer and check with them before placing your order. Folks always post on forums and social media "I need to speak with a (vendor) rep" but they tend to forget that those same guys have many pro and college accounts worth thousands that need attention first. They might get to you or they might not. Your retailer is always available and already has contact with those same reps regularly. Whatever they tell you, is likely the same info you'd get from that rep. 

For example, some customers are looking for that elusive old Vaughn glove or blocker. They still make those old V1, V2, SLW's, 5500's and they'll put a recent/newer graphic or custom design if you want, it just costs the same as a new current model or more. They just don't advertise it because they'd like everyone to try out the new more advanced stuff they come up with. 

Want 2 different color legs? Some of them offer that, just gotta ask

[PepperDoodle]

15 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

A ball park would suffice.

Could be anywhere from 5% to 40% depending on what it is and who is buying. 

You may pay $2,500 for a custom set. The vendor might bill the retailer or team $1,500 to $2,200. Now add on the extras that cost more to design and cut and take more time to put together. Then the vendor has to ship it. Does the retailer dropship to your address or will they have to re-ship it? Subtract that cost from your difference. The margin at the end isn't much, but it's not small either. I'd say it's enough to keep reinvesting and rebuying to afford that next series coming out the following year, but the industry isn't exactly making out like Scrooge McDuck

 

[coopaloop1234]

3 minutes ago, PepperDoodle said:

 say it's enough to keep reinvesting and rebuying to afford that next series coming out the following year, but the industry isn't exactly making out like Scrooge McDuck

 

 

So how can I can piggy back off of someones shop discount? I have knee pads

[Chenner29]

On 9/3/2020 at 12:11 PM, PepperDoodle said:

Hi folks,

When you order your custom set through your favorite retailer, your specs are finalized by someone to make sure they make sense before they are sent off to the factory. I do this in addition to other stuff within my company. Ask me just about anything you can think of when you're doing custom orders, and i'll give you honest answers. 

Craziest customer story.  Go.

[seagoal]

Is Vaughn the only company that charges extra for name embroidery?

[Mike24]

I second Chenners last post. 
 

go