Excited About New Reebok Line and Dealer Status

Finally... we have an account with Reebok.

This spring we pushed for early August to have Reebok NFL Thorpe II Field Shoes for football season. Seemed easy enough as it typically takes anywhere from a day to a month to get set up as a dealer with any supplier. We had plenty of time, right?

Well, due to a changeover in Reebok's credit processing where they began a collaboration with Adidas in that area, our application was misplaced on two different occasions. So although that was a first, the third attempt was the charm, and we received word yesterday that we were ready to go. Whew!

So we're a good 3 weeks later than I'd like, but there is a silver lining besides the fact we should have the NFL Thorpes in-house in about a week.

At the time of our first application, about the only thing Reebok offered in shoes for sports officials was the NFL Thorpe shoe. If you've been around enough, there did exist the long-standing "The Ref" shoe for basketball and a more recent "Vero" shoe for baseball offered by Reebok. Neither has been made for a while.

But what a difference 3 or 4 months and 2 more applications make as now Reebok will now be offering 4 additional shoes in 2 main sports other than football. Overall, it's a nice mix. Good job Reebok!

Here's the rundown:

1. Breezy Low Patent Leather Referee Shoes
   A stylish patent leather referee shoe for the court that has some similarities in the patent leather quality and side air holes on the Official Footwear's Ultimate Patent Leather Referee Shoes
   
   Available in 5-7 days in D width
   Suggested retail: $70
   
   
2. Field Magistrate Low II Umpire Shoes
   A lightweight leather umpire shoe with rubber turf outsole, signature Reebok stripes and MLB logo on back
   
   Available February '09 in D and EE width
   Suggested retail: $73
   
   
3. (and 4) Field Magistrate Plate Umpire Shoes
   This is the shoe that you've seen several of the MLB umpires wearing/testing this year. Some of you have been asking for several months "Is Reebok making a plate shoe now?" I've had my hands on both, and I'm impressed. The mid is comparable in quality to the highly popular New Balance plate umpire shoes but with different features. Picture the New Balance shoes but with an added instep guard over the front of the shoe, a padded tongue and a rubber studded outsole.
   
   Available February '09 in low and mid with both in D and EE
   Suggested retail: $115 for low / $120 for mid

Worn Reebok referee or umpire shoes in the past? Tell us what you think.