Reaction Umpire Shoe “Jackass” Tests

Categories: Umpire

If you haven’t checked out my overview of 3N2’s line of Reaction Umpire Shoes, I go into all of the gory details regarding why we have one of the lightest, toughest umpire shoes on the market.  As mentioned in that post, I’m a bit obsessed with quality control and testing.   I require that we meet all protection related standards and our Reaction line goes through a full battery of official and rigorous crush and impact tests.  To take it one step further, we videotaped (is it still called videotaping?) our own in-house tests as well, which we call the “jackass” tests.  Obviously, these tests are just for kicks, but do visibly show how rugged the carbon plate on the Reaction is.  Official tests – like our vice test – that are performed in conjunction with our factory partners really prove our product’s toughness, but they’re not quite as fun as letting our staff take out their frustration on a couple of pairs of Reactions.  Thanks to our great team in Florida, who I know had a helluva good time putting this together.

Product Alert: Pro Turf Trainer

Categories: News, Product Alerts, Slowpitch

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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.

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.   (more…)