tcmstr

With shittier Quality Control. I never had an issue with anything coming from the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu facility. We trusted it so much that only one employee had to sign off on stuff from there. Stuff from the one in Indianapolis was always checked by two (or more) employees. In my last few months working for the team shop, every single shipment from SLD had some items that were messed up and should not have passed QC checks. We had so much stuff waiting on RMAs from them, that we made a section in the warehouse just for it.

I doubt it'll be any earlier than July 1st, as Adidas doesn't take over until then IIRC.

Here's two NE patches, one from single packaging, and one from bulk packaging (where they sell us stacks of 100 without the cardboard backing). The underlying fabric is different, they're cut differently, the colors are different and QC appears to be abhorrent across both sets. (see the pull in the individual, and there are plenty of inconsistencies across the batch set that I can share as well) Bottom is from individual packaging, top is from bulk. Both came in the same box from NE.

Just saw this, sorry. This is a size 46 so the sizing might be a bit funny.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's no vendors that get the numbers correct. Almost no one on the retail side of things cares about the look of premiers as long as they're "close enough." Trying to get an RMA for something like this would be a pain in the Arse... But you're right, these are way too dark.

I'm not allowed to say where we got them from, or how (but they didn't tell me I can't confirm we have them or post pictures... so here we are). Sorry. No, as others have said, on ice will likely be embroidered. These are for premiers. I wouldn't be surprised if on ice numbers have some other gimmick to them, like last year's, but that's a total guess.

We got kits in earlier this week, I don't have access to them anymore though, they're all out getting stitched on.

Not everyone (read: every team) wants the patch. I'm sure that didn't help matters. Oh, also, the blame doesn't lie on NE. They're normally well prepared for this type of stuff.

Because NE is taking forever to get these out to retailers in any meaningful quantities. I've had some on order for both the store, and a personal order for myself since about a week before they were (officially) announced to the public, and still no shipping info. Last I talked to them, my ship date was the end of January, so we'll see. Everything was a rush job with these. I heard something about some letterers not getting enough for team sets at first-- this is totally unconfirmed though, but interesting if true.

Eh, I wish that were true. I've had arguments with some in the front office about what is "Good enough" in terms of logo production on stuff. It's hard for me to believe the team will do anything about it when the Director of Merchandising doesn't/didn't (I hope she's learned by now...) know what an "Authentic" jersey is, and cares more about getting lululemon to make stuff to sell... I could go into detail, but it's fairly easy to identify me from my posts and I rather like my job. I will admit, there are a select few who care almost as much as we do, but they may not be in much of a position to say anything -- my hopes lie in the lap of Troy Parchman. Again, I hope I'm wrong. I love the detail in the Hawk's crest. But not every team has that same detail & history holding them up from going to a sublimated/screened "light-weight" crest. If the rest of the league does it, why would Adidas make an exception for just one team? And if it provides a legitimate performance benefit, why would the Blackhawks say no, simply for nostalgia's sake? Sublimation makes much more sense for a pro jersey. I'm not sure that my source would even know the difference between it and screen printing (hence the "very nice" comment... those were their words, not mine), but I'll try and get them to elaborate. That does make this ebay one more interesting, though.

I wouldn't keep your hopes up. Hope I'm wrong, as I agree, I love the detail in the Hawk's crest. I'm sure hoping they did, much like with the Fanatics women's 3/4 sleeve ridiculousness. What worries me is that we haven't heard anything about that yet, and it's almost time to order for next season already. (At least, with Reebok's time frame... Jan/Feb order for a Aug/Sept. delivery without paying rush fees)

The important part here is the crest... Yes, that's a screen print. No, it's not exclusive to the Pens, or just practice jerseys. I've been told its a "very nice, high-quality print," for whatever that's worth. I doubt they carry over the three stripe design to all the gamers, but I haven't heard anything about that.

The promo shots are usually Reebok made. I believe gamers will still be CSL but Im not 100% sure on that.

Awesome, thanks!

How can you tell? As I don't have a ton of experience looking for kiss cut, I'm not all that sure what to look for... The only thing I can sort of see is that the numbers have rigidity when the surrounding fabric is bending in a way that the sample did not.