Fastpitch Product Update from China
Categories: Fastpitch, New Products
In my last post, I mentioned how great our factory partners are. Some of these factory partners reside in China, which has really become the Athletic Shoe Capital of the World. Despite the global economic downturn, our factories continue to provide for a high quality of life for their employees. Factory workers still come in at 8:30AM have a 1.5 hour lunch and finish work at 5PM. All meals are paid for by the company and housing is provided. Not to mention free health care and education on site at the factory. It is extremely comforting for me to know that our factory workers are happy, appreciated and well taken care of. Like any business, this leads to higher job satisfaction which, in turn, leads to a higher quality 3N2 shoe.
So what am I doing here in China? I am overseeing our quality assurance (QA) team to ensure that quality and delivery expectations for our 2010 product line are met. I’m also cultivating relationships with factory owners and working on new development projects with our team. We have a truly talented 3N2 team in China that handles our day-to-day development and production oversight but there is always a need for HQ to personally visit to make sure that all objectives are aligned and we’re moving towards better products for our loyal baseball and softball customers.
This afternoon I was elated to watch our new Accelerate PT [pitching toe] product on the production line. This is a great new shoe that promises to become the standard bearer for our line of fastpitch softball cleats. Every detail we had discussed over the last year and a half is being executed. I even saw some new equipment and processes being employed that our team developed in the last several months to ensure solid bonding of the pitching toe on the shoe.
I am very excited about this product and I cannot wait to have it out on the ball fields. Our fit test results last year were phenomenal. We had several collegiate girls wear the product in practice and in over forty plus games and the toe showed only minimal wear. We’ve had rave reviews as well from our NPF and Japanese Professional league pitchers.
I know I promised a video review of our Momentum trainer in my last post, but it looks like I’ll have to get that to you when I return to the States. Stay tuned.
Hi Sean…love the blog. When will the Accelerate PT be available for sale?
Sarah,
Thank you for the note. The Accelerate PT will be available in early January. We will carry Black & Navy in both a metal and a plastic tpu bottom [outsole]. Additionally, we will have White available as a 3N2 website only exclusive. Please follow the link below to view a sneak peak of the Accelerate PT catalog page.
Best…Sean
http://blog.3n2sports.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/3N2_Team_Catalog_2010_23-241.pdf
Hello Sean,
I am impressed that you have provided such a high standard of living for those working in China at your factory. It begs the question to me, however, if you can provide all those nice things for Chinese workers, what makes it so cost prohibitive to have your operations in the States? If you were in the U.S., you would most certainly save on not having to provide housing, education, and a 1.5 hour lunch break. I imagine that huge savings on having to ship your product halfway around the world would also help the bottom line. I know many factory workers here that put in a full 8 hour day, an unpaid half hour lunch, and still produce products that are among the highest quality in the world. Products made in America still means something to some Americans.
Just my opinion, Thanks for your time.
Steve Silberhorn
Steve,
Thank you for your thoughtful question. Let me start by saying that 3N2 is headquartered in the United States and supports an enthusiastic and growing base of Florida-based employees. All 3N2 products are designed by our talented stateside design team and some of our apparel items and uniforms are currently proudly made in the USA. In addition, 100% of the many outsourced services 3N2 currently supports – from marketing and advertising, to printing, accounting and legal – are all US-based.
To your comment, I completely agree that hardworking men and women in the U.S. produce some of the highest quality goods in the world. The issue is that the labor and overhead costs are also close to the highest in the World.
The great majority of athletic footwear brands produce their footwear in China and Vietnam. We simply cannot compete against the athletic footwear giants if we manufacture any other place besides Asia. Keep in mind that manufacturing footwear in Asia is not solely related to cost; Asia actually has some of the most advanced machinery, technologies and processes on the planet for the manufacturing of athletic footwear. There is a reason why over the last several decades that they have become the footwear manufacturing capital of the world. Believe me, there are less expensive places to manufacture than China and Vietnam, but you risk quality when you consider pioneering footwear manufacturing in countries with lower labor costs and no experience in shoe making.
Once again, footwear is a product we simply cannot currently manufacture effectively in the US but as mentioned previously we have a uniform line and many apparel products that are made in the USA and are always looking for opportunities to deepen our “Made in the USA” product base.
Sean,
Although your company is 3N2 sports, it focuses only on baseball related sports, i.e. softball, fast pitch, etc. Have you ever thought to expand to several different sports or is it a baseball related company only?
Thank you,
Mike
Mike,
Our company and trade name is 3N2, but a bit of confusion sometimes arises because our web URL is 3N2sports.com. Because of this, there are many folks that believe that our company name is 3N2 Sports, which would imply that we currently focus on a wide range of sports.
The fact is that we have always been a company dedicated exclusively to ball and bat sports, developing our product solely for the baseball and softball markets. Our core focus at 3N2 is to design and develop the best footwear, apparel and uniforms for the serious softball and baseball athlete.
That being said, we have found that our apparel, uniforms, trainers, turfs and cleats have been widely used in other sports (ranging from Lacrosse, Football and Basketball, to Bowling and Horseback riding). Although we find a small and growing portion of our sales coming from outside baseball and softball, we are not currently targeting these markets specifically.
Whatever the sport, players want a quality product and if our product is delivering on its quality promise than I would see more and more athletes – regardless of the sport – using 3N2 product.
Thanks for the question.