Mike Chen's Hockey Blog
Buying Customized Jerseys: An Update
by Mike Chen on 10/11/08 at 03:17 PM ET
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As many readers know, I’ve been trying to help people avoid the disasters of buying a customized replica jersey (RBK Premiere, not RBK EDGE) from NHL.com and their crappy iron-on lettering/numbering. I’ve received a little bit of feedback and have checked things out in the Bay Area, so here’s a little update.
In short, it looks like individual arena stores are wising up to the fact that the iron-on player jerseys the majority were selling last season (probably purchased in bulk from NHL.com) are not making fans happy. I’ve now heard that a bunch of teams are actually selling replicas and have, through whatever means, taken care of the customization themselves.
It sounds like they’re probably getting the blanks in bulk, then shipping off large batches to outside venders. This looks to be the case now in San Jose, where a quick trip to the arena store on opening night showed a whole rack of new Dan Boyle replica jerseys with nice stitching on the lettering/numbering for $200. That’s more than it’d cost if you ordered it online, but it’s instant gratification.
I’m not totally sure about how prices will vary throughout North America but you can bet that arenas will jack up prices to take advantage of impulse buyers. Still, you can at least see the quality right there in person.
As listed in my previous post, it sounds like IceJerseys.ca (a KK sponsor), River City Sports, and a few other places do a good job. But if you don’t want to wait for your new jersey, this sounds like your best bet.
As for my own crappy iron-on lettering/numbering, opening night at HP Pavilion was memorable not only because it was a great game, but because the N on my Roenick jersey started to fall off. I purchased it less than a year ago so I’m going to check to see if they have any sort of warranty on this sort of thing. In the meantime, I’ll probably try a fabric glue and wear it on game nights until I get a Dan Boyle 3rd jersey in November.
And again, I can’t emphasize enough: DO NOT BUY CUSTOMIZED JERSEYS OFF NHL.COM. At least, not until it explicitly states that lettering/numbering will be stitched on, not heat-transferred on.
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Jerseys,
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