Rebecca Brayton: Hockey is one of the fastest sports on the planet with the help of course of skates. Hi! I'm Rebecca Britton and welcome to watchmojo.com. And today, we're learning how skates are made and what to look for when you are buying a pair. What type of research is involved when looking at trends and equipment?
Corry Kelahear: When we talk about our target market we refer to it as the boss. Our boss is a 12-18 year old, a lead hockey player. And we really do a lot of research onto what he likes on the ice and also you know what influence is off the ice. A lot of influence really is starting to come from some of the more extreme sports whether it be snowboarding, surfing, motocross, ultimate fighting. There is a lot of different sports that are starting to creep in onto our category.
Rebecca Brayton: What are some recent equipment trends have you seen?
Corry Kelahear: We know in the skate market, just feet in general that no two feet are the same. You know we have to build one skate, to try and make it work with as many people as possible. So what we've been trying to do is we use very heat-reactive materials that really allow you to create your own shape in skates as opposed to trying to fit into a preset shape.
Rebecca Brayton: Are there any specific categories of equipment that you are more focused on?
Corry Kelahear: We have product managers in each of the categories and development teams in each of the categories. Myself in the skate category. It's probably a most important category. It's a category we've been in for over a hundred years. So it's something we take a lot of pride and pushing the envelope and really coming up with the latest technology for our users.
Rebecca Brayton: How long does it take an idea to go from concept to the stores?
Corry Kelahear: We usually work on 18-24 months development cycles from the time that we put together a design brief, which starts with all the research that we talked about before. Going all the way towards product landing in stores, but we're always working on future technologies and those could be 3, 4, 5 years old. It really takes a lot to take an idea to all the way to industrializing and being able to mass produce it. So there are different timelines depending on the product, but for amajor event there is no set timeline.
Rebecca Brayton: Can you explain the differences between professional versus amateur equipment?
Corry Kelahear: In our retail line we have our price point, so whether it be a someone who is going to go skating on the pond, once or twice a year or you know that a lead level player who is on the ice saw just about everyday. We have different types of product for all those players, but the product that we offer that we would sell in any local hockey shop, that would be very similar to like our NHL players like Alexander Ovechkin, Kelahear, John Tavares is using. The only difference is sometimes for them there might be some small levels of customization that you might be able to do with them.
Rebecca Brayton: When you're looking for a skate what elements should you be looking for?
Corry Kelahear: When you are purchasing a skate, obviously the most important thing is when you put it on, it's a skate that's got a fetlock. We have a technology what we call U-Foam. It's a material that gets really nice and soft. So if you have any pressure points or growths or so on your foot that are little different from standard you're able to get a truly custom fit.
So you want to go into a store, talk to the floor staff, and you'll tell them what level of hockey you play, what your preferences are and they'll really be able to guide you to the proper fit, and make sure to ask them about customization on some skates versus the other.
Rebecca Brayton: Thank you very much!
Corry Kelahear: Thank you.!
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