As part of our commitment to our customers, 3N2 strives to be completely transparent in all of our business practices. This means communicating the positives as well as the negatives of our product offerings.  We have recently been tracking a defect that has been affecting our Pro Turf Trainer Lows & Mids.  

Unfortunately, we have not been able to isolate the batch at this point, but it has been verified as a defect and we wanted to make our customers aware ASAP.

What is the issue?  We have several reported cases of the outsole (the bottom of the shoe) of the Pro Turf Trainer separating from the midsole (the cushion between the top of the shoe and the bottom).  The cause for this has been determined to be a glue breakdown related to a chemical reaction between the glue and the midsole material.  This has only affected limited batches of the Pro Turf Trainer.  Our Momentum Turf Trainer has not had any issues.

We also know that this issue stems from a former supplier we no longer work with.  We discontinued working with the outsole/midsole supplier in question over a year ago.   This supplier was responsible for the stock fitting or bonding of the midsole and outsole.  We have since brought the stock fitting in-house for better quality control.  So the good news out of the bad is that the problem has been rectified as it was confined to isolated issues related to a legacy supplier.

We take this issue very seriously as our quality commitment to our customers is top priority. Given this, I felt it was of the utmost importance to inform you of the potential defect issue.  I also want to lay out the simple no-questions asked return process if you happen to experience this defect:

Go to: 3n2sports.com

Click on the Customer Service Tab in yellow at the top of the screen

Scroll over Returns/Exchanges and click

Or, go directly to http://www.3n2sports.com/cs-returnex.aspx

Fill out the form in its entirety and submit

A 3N2 representative will get back with you within 24 hours to request a picture of the defect

After reviewing the submission and picture, 3n2 will coordinate the shipment of a new pair directly to you at no charge

Again, we sincerely apologize to any customers that have experienced this defect.  Our intention is to get you back on the field with a high quality pair of 3N2 Turfs.  As stated before, this is only affecting a limited number of Pro Turf Trainer Lows and Mids from our old supplier.  The vast majority of our customers should still be experiencing the high performance benefits of our classic turf.

First things first.  I want to give a big thanks to the officiating community at large for rallying around the 2010 launch of our Reaction Pro Plate Umpire Shoe. We truly appreciate your support as well as the continued, and often pointed, feedback that has made the Reaction one of our most well received product lines ever.  I’ve just been told by our good friend Dennis Mader – the Supervisor of Officials for the NPF – that many of the NPF officials who worked NCAA post season play wore the Reaction Pro Plate and Reaction Base Shoe and that they “love them.”  Great to hear, guys.

Many of you have asked what separates the 3N2 Reaction line of officiating shoes from other brands?  It boils down to price, function, weight and comfort.
 
You will find the Reaction line is very competitively priced and uses the existing proprietary last and midsole technology that is found in our successful Turf Line.  These proven technologies reduce stress on the knees, joints and back and allow you to officiate multiple games over a day or weekend without feeling the aches and pains associated with other footwear brands.

The weight and function of our officiating shoes are two sides of the same coin.  Our Reaction footwear is by far the lightest on the market.  How do we do this?  It’s not by reducing function and protection. It really comes down to modern technology. For years, a steel-toe plate was the only option for industrial, military, police/fire services and behind-the-plate umpires. Steel toes result in a much heavier shoe that can provide a great deal of discomfort as – no surprise here – there is a piece of steel wrapped around your toe.

Modern advancements in protective technology have enabled 3N2 to provide a composite carbon fiber toe and plate that provides the needed protection for umpires without the extra weight, foot rub and pain associated with a steel toe.

Although we’ve had a lot of tremendously good input on the Reaction Pro Plate, I understand that there are those who question our use of carbon fiber.  I completely understand the concern.  Steel toes have been in use for many, many years and still serve a purpose in very specialized fields.  However, that purpose no longer involves the ball field.

The truth is that today steel is really only necessary for industrial jobs involving heavy moving objects or machinery.  Today’s advanced carbon fiber composite materials provide far more protection than you’ll ever need behind the plate, while being infinitely lighter and more comfortable than steel. The proprietary carbon toe and plate we’ve developed for the Reaction is fashioned from a material that is basically identical to that of our factory partner, which produces footwear for the FBI, Police, Fire and Military services. Their material rates at ASTMF 2413.05.  In addition to a superior strength to weight ratio, carbon fiber also provides added protection from electrical hazards.

If you love steel toe shoes and/or are OK with the added weight and discomfort, I say stick with them.  There is no questioning the toughness of steel.  However, unless a piece of airplane engine falls from the sky and onto your foot, a steel toe isn’t going to do anything more for you on the ball field than today’s modern carbon fiber composites.

Funny story.  I’m a serious stickler for testing.  For our products, I require that we meet all protection related standards and the Reaction goes through a battery of official and rigorous crush and impact tests, such as the vice test.  To take it one step further, we undertook and documented our own in-house test as well.  Let’s call it the “Jackass” test.  We asked for volunteers among the 3N2 staff to put on a pair of Reaction Pro Plates and let one of our 200 pound office brutes wearing Pro Metal Baseball Spikes jump from a ledge spike first on to the carbon toe of the Reaction.  The result?

Partial amputation and workers comp claims?

Not at all.  Volunteers reported what we knew would be the case.  There was virtually no pressure from the direct impact of the cleat on the toe. I hope to pop up a video showing our “Jackass” Reaction test soon. No interns were injured during the filming of the test and please, please do not try it at home!

What’s the bottom line?  The carbon composite protective toe technology in our Reaction Plate Umpire Shoe provides above-and-beyond protection for officials, without the weight and discomfort of an outdated steel toe.

So, if you’re a baseball or softball official struggling with steel toe shoes, you should really give the Reaction Pro Plate a look.  The carbon fiber Reaction Pro Plate is likely less expensive, more comfortable and just as protective as those steel toe dinosaurs.

You can learn more about the Reaction Pro Plate Umpire Shoe on our website which will also be available in a Mid Cut and EE width in 2011.

What a great time of year. The weather is warming up, buds are breaking and spring training is in full swing. I’m writing this post on a flight to Arizona to meet with current and prospective 3N2 players and help facilitate one of our annual 3N2 photo shoots. Our player photo shoots help provide the player images you see on the 3N2 website and in Product Catalogs.  Our 2011 catalog will go to print in less than 4 weeks – just in time for the retail pre-book season – and many of the photos from Arizona will make their way into the pages.

I missed the Arizona trip last year as I crashed a scooter the day before my flight (thank goodness for helmets – please wear them). This year, I vowed to stay off any two-wheeled toys in lead up to this trip.

Marty Graham, our President and Director of Player Relations, has done a great job solidifying the ranks of the 3N2 player line-up for 2010.  Marty has long been a baseball stats junkie and working closely with players is a role he is perfectly suited for.

This year, many of the big-name baseball brands dropped a significant portion of their endorsed players, which produced a surplus of quality players without deals.  This depressed the value of the player endorsement deals, which really helps smaller companies like 3N2.

Our cornerstone guys, Neftali Feliz and Michael Taylor, are suiting up for the Texas Rangers and Oakland A’s respectively, while new addition Reggie Willits is playing for the California Angels.  We have also added a handful of other strong, big-league guys to our roster.  Check our roster page on the website for the full roster.

In addition, there are a couple of other big names we are still pursuing and hope to have further clarity before the season starts in April.

I will be feeding updates from Arizona through our 3N2 Facebook and Twitter pages so please become a fan if you have not already!

Today was a much anticipated day for us at 3N2, as well as for our very, very patient dealers who have been waiting on the first shipment of the new 3N2 Reaction Pro-Plate Umpire Shoe.

Despite unforeseen production delays and an unexpected and unusually long customs examination delay in Miami, the Pro Plates have finally arrived! All I can say is that they are well worth the wait.

I would like to give a nod to our warehouse crew for doing a bang-up job of unloading, checking in and packaging pre-book orders to go out the same day. No better motivation than some NY-style pizza on the bosses’ tab. It was a complete team effort in which I even got to spend some quality time on the loading dock and staging area.

As the cartons were being unloaded, I was spot-checking the plate shoes and I have to say I am a truly, truly excited about this product. Every last detail discussed on my last visit to Asia was perfectly executed. I tried on a pair of plate shoes and I am still amazed by the lightness of the shoe. Umpires will not even feel the weight of the plate due to the material and construction of the shoe. We employed several proprietary technologies to develop not only a light shoe but a lighter toe and plate that provide ultimate protection for an umpire.

Fortunately, but unfortunately, we have sold through most of this first shipment. We are protecting our dealers who pre-booked so if you did not pre-book you may have to wait a few weeks.  The second shipment will be arriving in 2 weeks so more are on the way!

If you need a Reaction Pro-Plate yesterday – like our dealers – please contact one of our valued dealers today who pre-booked this product and should have inventory:

1 ) GeorgeTown Sporting Goods: Georgetown, TX (512) 863-9379
2 ) Purchase Officials Supplies Northeast: Sewickly, PA (412)-749-9949
3 ) Ump-attire.com: Crestwood, KY (502) 243-1421
4 ) Mordecai Sporting Goods: Gardendale, Al (205) 631-4172
5 ) Keller Sporting Goods: Atlanta, Ga (404) 755-8212
6 ) Impact Team Sports: Naples, FL (239) 513-1212
7 ) Hopkins Sporting Goods: Des Moines, IA (515) 270-0132
8 ) Play it Again Sports Columbia: Columbia, Mo (573) 442-9291

If you would like more information on 3N2 umpire shoes please visit the 3N2 Website.

Happy New Year! Things are still fast and furious at 3N2 Headquarters in Orlando. One of our flagship products for 2010 – the Accelerate PT – has arrived! We’re very excited about this product. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Accelerate, it is 3N2’s premiere line of women’s fastpitch footwear. The PT in Accelerate PT stands for Pitching Toe and we’ve managed to create one helluva pitching toe on the Accelerate PT. We worked with our professional fastpitch athletes to test prototypes for over a year and feel we’ve created the absolutely best pair of fastpitch pitching toe cleats on the market. I’ve posted a video here of Michele Smith who had a chance to break down the Accelerate PT at the NFCA show in Nashville. I’ll shut up and let her walk you through what makes the PT special.

P.S. The Accelerate PT is currently for sale on the 3N2 website.

Wow, time really flies! I had meant to post this video review after returning from China in November, but stepped off the plane and into a whirlwind of end-of-year 3N2 activities. Our 2010 product has been steadily arriving at the Orlando warehouse, our new website will be launching soon and I’ve been busy traveling to tournaments and tradeshows.  I’m currently at NFCA in Nashville and will have a video of Michele Smith posted soon. We have been working with Michele and our athletes on fastpitch product development and of course many, many meetings.  In any case, I often have folks ask me about what makes our Momentum turf shoe special.  I was able to take some time when I was working with our product teams in China to get some of my thoughts on video.  It’s shot in the Hong Kong harbor – the morning after my 30 hour + trip – so apologies for all of the background noise.

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.

Wow. 36 hours of travel to get to Hong Kong. Long trip and even longer story (I won’t bore you with the details). HK is a city that everyone should visit at some point. East meets West in a beautiful landscape of water, skyscrapers and mountains. The best shopping in the world. A place to see new product developments, a place to people watch, a place to enjoy culinary delights and indulge in stories from locals and travelers from around the globe. HK is intriguing because of its past and obviously much speculation about its future. For years, it has been a transition point for many business people before they journey to the mainland to visit manufacturing facilities.

China has been a manufacturing hub for years and a shoe juggernaut for about twenty years. I’ve studied the history of shoe making and it is quite interesting to look at the last thirty years in which Asia has dominated the industry, including the shift from Taiwan and Korea to China and now to Indonesia, Vietnam and, to some degree, Cambodia and other comparatively less developed countries. Shoe manufacturing is transient. As shoe manufacturing countries develop economically over time, costing pressures result which force production to lesser-developed countries with lower cost bases.

Asia owns the shoe industry – especially the athletic footwear space. The stigma no longer exists of product in Asia being of poor quality. Asia has the best shoe production technology and capabilities in the world. Mainly a result of the decades of manufacturing. In 2007, China exported 8.17 billion pairs of shoes and accounted for over 70 percent of the global output for footwear.

3N2 has production partners in Asia but also in other parts of the world, as we prefer to diversify our manufacturing for the obvious benefits. 3N2 is fortunate enough to produce a majority of our shoes at one of the most renowned factories in Asia. This factory has received the highest marks for quality and delivery – year over year. So, how do retain such a partner? It’s all about relationships and growth potential.

I should be in mainland China soon and will post more. I also plan on posting a quick overview of our Momentum Trainer from the hotel here in HK. I just picked up a new Flip video camera and am eager to try it out.

Welcome. My name is Sean Murphy and I’m the CEO of 3N2. This is my first blog, so fasten your seatbelts – there are sure to be blind curves, detours and bumps in the road.

The last thing I want to do is make this blog about me. However, for this first post, I’ll ask you to suffer through a little bit of my background so you can get to know my perspective and history with 3N2.

I grew up in Charlotte, NC (go Heels!) where I developed an early love for competitive sports, attended college at George Washington and Georgetown (go Hoyas!), and spent most of my working career as a business management consultant in the Washington DC, New York and Philadelphia areas.

In 2006, our President, Marty Graham, and myself were asked to take a look at an up-and-coming shoe company called 3N2. 3N2 had been around since 2001, had a large number of loyal customers, but also its share of business ups and downs. We immediately fell in love with 3N2 and its promise of becoming the go-to provider of footwear for softball and baseball athletes. In 2007, Marty and I left our consulting careers to take the reigns at 3N2, beginning what has been a long, strange and sometimes aggravating but always wonderful trip.

A little over a year ago, I moved to Winter Park, Florida to be at 3N2 headquarters full time. A year of commuting from DC was taking its toll and it was clear that being in the trenches with our tremendous staff in Florida was best for 3N2. The rest, as they say, is history.

So, enough about me. This blog is really about 3N2 and you.

Consider this blog an open invitation. Feel free to ask questions, make comments, even rant and rave. I’m here to provide answers and insight where I can. I also hope to learn about you. I’m eager to hear about your experiences with 3N2 and discover ways to better serve your needs. No question or comment is off limits, but I do reserve the right to delete messages that are off-topic, abusive or commercial in nature.

Over the course of the next few weeks I will be making the long, long journey to visit a few of our manufacturing partners in Asia. I hope to have pictures and stories for you soon. Stay tuned for tall tales from the Far East!

In the meantime, feel free to reach out.

~Sean