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.

New Customer Choice Selections for Football

I get a strong sense that when our customers shop online and have a hard time choosing between 2 or more products that looking for the "Customer Choice" seal really comes in handy. We'll carefully evaluate adding products to this list about twice per season.

For our first look at football in '08, we felt the following products were worthy of the customer choice distinction:

• Ultimate Long Sleeve Football Shirt (#ZX9)
  With our early feedback, I expected this shirt to sell well but not until around midway through the season. So I was a pleasantly surprised when I pulled up sales figures to-date this month.
  
  
• New Balance Referee Shoes (#MU350LK)
  These shoes are proving as popular for football officials as they have been for umpires.
  
  
• Diamond HOTSPORT® Short Sleeve Loose Fit Shirt - Black (#1528)
  We waited quite a while (1 1/2 years) before adding any loose fit or compression wear out of fear they just wouldn't sell well. But this item has done very well despite competing against the easy-to-find Nike and Under Armour varieties. Do compare this shirt and price to one of those, and you'll find the same or better quality at a lower price.
  
  
• Diamond Club Travel Bag
  This is my favorite smaller, non-umpire size, bag. I use it personally for my travel. For referee bags, it continues to be the steady, strong favorite. Plus in the last 12 months, not one of these bags has been returned to us for any reason.
  
  
• Mueller Self-Adjusting Knee Stabilizer
  What people really like about this knee apparatus is its on-the-fly custom fit that offers support as you need it without any adjustments. And it didn't hurt that Referee Magazine featured this item in last month's issue.

See all 14 customer choice products for football >.

Referee Caps Comparison and Close-Ups Available

In line with what we've done with protective gear for baseball and referee shirts, we decided to throw some information and images together to help you better decide which referee cap is best for you.

For each cap, you can now see a close-up of the front view worn, side view worn and fabric. So whether you're going w/ a black and white or white only cap, you can view the additional images by viewing the main referee cap page, clicking to view any of the cap product pages then clicking each thumbnail on the screen.

Plus because each cap has its own unique features such as the type of fabric, fit and sweatband, we thought a comparison chart would be in order as well. From any cap product page, simply click the "Comparison" link (to the right of "Add to Cart) to view the chart.

So, which is best? I'll let you decide, but my favorite is the P3 Pro Crown Cap (#405). Not only does its crisp-looking fabric provide moisture management and breathability, it will also repel water at either the same price or just $1 more than other fitted style caps.