Factory Mad Interview

[TheGoalNet]

• 

  Interview with Factory Mad [Modification and Design]

  Dennis Dombrowski is one of the most quotable people that I ever met. He’s the type of guy that you want to have a beer with and listen to his stories. You are not reading this article to learn about Dennis person. You are reading to learn about Factory Mad, however, maybe we should care more about the people we are buying from. If we took that modern hipster approach to buying goalie equipment, like people do with milk or produce, Factory Mad would qualify as a great place to buy from. The categories of “buy local” and “supporting a company with cause” would be easily checked off. For the some odd 600,000 registered hockey players south of the boarder, his company is one of the only that could satisfy the buy American movement.  If you want to know his cause, he’s a firm believer in 5^th things; you shouldn’t have knee rolls, a glove should be thumb to fingers closure break, gear should be black, that his products are designed to be the best they can be, and he won’t miss a delivery date. As you may have guessed, he’s lightened up on Henry Ford’s idea that “you can have any color as long as it’s black”. He’s not concerned with selling to the entire market or a 2 yr product release cycle. If there’s a good idea, he will implement it tomorrow. If it’s been 2 years, he won’t can a good design for the sake releasing something new.

  

  So who is this guy and where did he come from? Dennis got his start with Vaughn at age 17 while still attending high school and working in restaurant. He is not a classically trained industrial designer, goalie fanatic, or equipment junkie. He is a true professional that cut his teeth the old fashioned way and attended Jay-Z’s School of Hard Knocks.  He started at the bottom and worked his way up. He has now been a part of the industry for nearly 30 years. His company, Factory Mad, is having its 6 birthday this year and that’s no insignificant mile stone. For those of you who have not attended business 101 yet, 90% of businesses fail within the first 5 years. His goal in life is not be the biggest company, but to be a business that is well run and that his family can be proud of. This means that Factory Mad is here to stay and will a fill a niche for the right customer. . . Like legendary gear fanatic Tim Thomas.  

  

  What does that 30 years’ experience mean and why should you consider Factory Mad for your next set of gear? Factory Mad has designed gear for Tim Thomas, Jeff Glass, Mike Houser, and CJ Motte. While at Vaughn, Dennis tweaked and customized gear for Ed Belfour, Ryan Miller, Evgeni Nabakov, and Chris Osgood. At least 2 tendys out of that group should end up in the hall of fame and that’s resume enough in itself. But, as a customer, he will also offer you some things that others will not. True bespoke equipment. His custom is not limited to custom sizes or custom graphics, it is made to match you. He will build you pads based on your foot, shin, and thigh size and not throw you into a typical 34+2 size. He builds all of his own tooling in house and will mold you the exact the thumb break design that you need in a catcher, as long as it’s not fingers only closure.

  For the future, we can expect a C&A. I can’t tell you when, but it is coming. It’s something that people have seen and want, but Dennis is not ready to release yet. Every piece of gear is built to order and you own the production slot until the build is complete. The glove mods you see on Instagram are done during the wee hours of the morning and never take away from his bespoke gear. When you order a set of gear, you are getting his all for 10 hours a day until it is done. The C&A will probably be amazing, but it won’t be released until the design is perfected and he can meet his existing demand for gloves, pads, and blockers.

  Dennis is always thinking about his next generation pad and follows a constant improvement plan. He is not saddled by the constraints of retail and/or making his gear graphics standout at your local retailer. His motto is that “everyone is a pro”. He will treat an 11 yr old with the same respect given to Tim Thomas. People that order his gear seek him out and know that it’s going to be a special experience. I can only image because my conversation with him was truly memorable.

   

  

  Thoughts? Questions? Leave them below. . .

[bunnyman666]

As a very happy multi time customer of Factory Mad products and services, this article paints a great and accurate picture of Dennis Dombrowski. 

Dennis' "my way, no highway option" philosophies on certain aspects of his gear paints an identity for his products. Want the Reebok/CCM closure in a glove? You can have it if you send him a CCM glove for a (much needed, IMO) mod. Want a pad with long, bouncy rebounds? Look elsewhere. You won't get a clone of an older glove, as Dennis lives in the now. 

His gloves are magical, and have many sensible and replaceable design elements that make good sense. His seemingly controversial knee pads (as pix are not that readily available) have user replaceable parts and they are simply the best on the market. His neck guard can be free of hockey smell and germs. This is very important to me as a sufferer of debilitating rashes that were caused by the inability to clean equipment. 

As far as I see it, Dennis is nothing less than an asset to our community. Want to learn how to put on a new toe trim on a pad? Order his sensibly priced repair materials and he will guide you through. 

 

[Snowman30]

Couldn't agree more bunnyman, Dennis is a amazing person to deal with. Really love the mods he did to my glove. I would love a set of his knee pads and this new chest protector he is making sounds friggin' awesome. I can't wait to see it, i almost bought a heavy modded CCM premier pro he had done from  someone as I heard his chest protector work is great. 

[TheGoalNet]

I should have a demo glove coming for testing / review purposes. His philosophy on gloves peaked my interest

 

we didn't get into the discussion of rebounds. 

 

Whats his stance, in tight for easy coverup? 

[bunnyman666]

12 minutes ago, TheGoalNet said:

I should have a demo glove coming for testing / review purposes. His philosophy on gloves peaked my interest

 

we didn't get into the discussion of rebounds. 

 

Whats his stance, in tight for easy coverup? 

Yes- dead rebounds. 

 

I find that nobody clears the crease of trash, so I'd rather take my chances with wild, spirited rebounds.

[cwarnar]

45 minutes ago, TheGoalNet said:

I should have a demo glove coming for testing / review purposes. His philosophy on gloves peaked my interest

 

we didn't get into the discussion of rebounds. 

 

Whats his stance, in tight for easy coverup? 

I've always wanted to demo a Factory Mad Glove... I refuse to use anything but my WGD Summit, but I've rarely heard anyone say anything bad about Dennis' glove.

One example of customer service, I commented on a Factory Mad thread in a FB group... not more than 5 min later I get a FB message from Dennis with some info and more just wanting to chat.  I got a new to me V6 2200 chest that might be going to Dennis for a beef up

[Rosco]

What a great article about someone with a true passion for his craft. Truly living the dream

[TheGoalNet]

6 hours ago, cwarnar said:

I've always wanted to demo a Factory Mad Glove... I refuse to use anything but my WGD Summit, but I've rarely heard anyone say anything bad about Dennis' glove.

One example of customer service, I commented on a Factory Mad thread in a FB group... not more than 5 min later I get a FB message from Dennis with some info and more just wanting to chat.  I got a new to me V6 2200 chest that might be going to Dennis for a beef up

Didn't know Dennis did c&a beef up 

i just got a 2200 Howard pro return on eBay so I could write some more reviews on the site... 

might be a fun project to send it to Dennis 

[bunnyman666]

10 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

Didn't know Dennis did c&a beef up 

i just got a 2200 Howard pro return on eBay so I could write some more reviews on the site... 

might be a fun project to send it to Dennis 

The CA upgrade is something that gets as little promotion as the Knee Guards. Basically, he does a standard upgrade for the Vaughn, but also does other ones. I probably would have had my Vaughn done, but I bought my Warrior and haven't looked back. 

The only CA that could tear me away from my Warrior would probably be a Factory Mad CA. 

[TheGoalNet]

10 hours ago, bunnyman666 said:

The CA upgrade is something that gets as little promotion as the Knee Guards. Basically, he does a standard upgrade for the Vaughn, but also does other ones. I probably would have had my Vaughn done, but I bought my Warrior and haven't looked back. 

The only CA that could tear me away from my Warrior would probably be a Factory Mad CA. 

I actually don't have a single complaint about my GNetik 2. I literally only bought the Vaughn because I wanted to do more reviews and I figured I could easily flip it for what I paid. 

[bunnyman666]

Never tried a Brian's unit.

That being said, you may really dig a reinforced Vaughn.

[Snowman30]

His beef up on the chest protector is amazing,  but costly. Seen one on ggsu ( hate to say it) before Christmas, the guy had Dennis do a full beef up on CCM Premier pro and I have to save it looked even better protection wise then my Brown  2300. I asked Dennis about doing a chest protector for me and he never really gave me and price, but talking to the person who had it done it is up there, I know my trapper work was in $180usd range plus return shipping. But if he is doing  his own I am for sure going to look at getting one.

[SaveByRichter35]

I started following him on IG after reading this post and saw all of those before/after glove videos.  Aside from a floating T what else does he do? 

[TheGoalNet]

1 hour ago, Snowman30 said:

His beef up on the chest protector is amazing,  but costly. Seen one on ggsu ( hate to say it) before Christmas, the guy had Dennis do a full beef up on CCM Premier pro and I have to save it looked even better protection wise then my Brown  2300. I asked Dennis about doing a chest protector for me and he never really gave me and price, but talking to the person who had it done it is up there, I know my trapper work was in $180usd range plus return shipping. But if he is doing  his own I am for sure going to look at getting one.

Any pics of this unit?

 

 

[cwarnar]

12 hours ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

I started following him on IG after reading this post and saw all of those before/after glove videos.  Aside from a floating T what else does he do? 

Reworks the internals for butter like closure

[SaveByRichter35]

9 hours ago, cwarnar said:

Reworks the internals for butter like closure

Well obviously he does something to the internals but is it common knowledge or is that top secret info? lol

[Snowman30]

22 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

Any pics of this unit?

 

 

No I am kicking myself for not saving them. What I remember was he redoes the shoulders floaters and under them. The arms were redone with it think some type of bladder system in the bicep area, the inside belly area had another layer of his material/padding added. That is what I can remember off the top of my head. I will see if I can find them for you.

[TheGoalNet]

59 minutes ago, Snowman30 said:

No I am kicking myself for not saving them. What I remember was he redoes the shoulders floaters and under them. The arms were redone with it think some type of bladder system in the bicep area, the inside belly area had another layer of his material/padding added. That is what I can remember off the top of my head. I will see if I can find them for you.

We've been exchanging details 

you're dead on. Stomach, biceps, and caps are what he does 

[cwarnar]

12 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

We've been exchanging details 

you're dead on. Stomach, biceps, and caps are what he does 

Any info on Pricing?  I just got a new to me V6 2200.  Haven't had it on the ice yet, but would be interested in what Dennis charges

[TheGoalNet]

2 hours ago, cwarnar said:

Any info on Pricing?  I just got a new to me V6 2200.  Haven't had it on the ice yet, but would be interested in what Dennis charges

I'll PM

I don't know that I should be posting them. 

[cwarnar]

Some pics of a V6 beef up Dennis did

[TheGoalNet]

On 3/10/2017 at 5:10 PM, cwarnar said:

Some pics of a V6 beef up Dennis did

Thanks for posting 

 

Vaughn confirmed my Howard unit has a bunch of beef ups. It's weird to me that Vaughn doesn't make their prolevel retail unit anything like the actual pro units

I know things are customized, but I believe at least CCM & Brian's sell something at retail that is very similar to what the pros use

[cwarnar]

2 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

Thanks for posting 

 

Vaughn confirmed my Howard unit has a bunch of beef ups. It's weird to me that Vaughn doesn't make their prolevel retail unit anything like the actual pro units

I know things are customized, but I believe at least CCM & Brian's sell something at retail that is very similar to what the pros use

It's really mind boggling... especially when so many "everyday customers" complain about the lack of protection in the arms... I did read that the V7 XF Carbon is supposed to be a beefier version.  Historically the Hockey Shop has done a beefed up Vaughn unit the call the "THS Spec." 

[TheGoalNet]

12 hours ago, cwarnar said:

It's really mind boggling... especially when so many "everyday customers" complain about the lack of protection in the arms... I did read that the V7 XF Carbon is supposed to be a beefier version.  Historically the Hockey Shop has done a beefed up Vaughn unit the call the "THS Spec." 

I think Goalie Monkey does the same as well.

I wonder if Mike is a stubborn guy? I

found Vaughn to be like this on a lot of things. He Y t on the original Velo glove, the click buckel straps, the tribal graphics, the cheaters on the thumb of the T6000 & 5500 gloves, the shrinking Velo pads, etc etc 

However their new SLR line looks awesome to me 

[Hills]

22 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

Thanks for posting 

 

Vaughn confirmed my Howard unit has a bunch of beef ups. It's weird to me that Vaughn doesn't make their prolevel retail unit anything like the actual pro units

I know things are customized, but I believe at least CCM & Brian's sell something at retail that is very similar to what the pros use

I'm not so sure that is true... especially for CCM.