Who was the Atlanta Thrashers' team customizer?

[shilenj]

Hey guys, just wondering what company used to be the team customizer for the Thrashers during the Reebok era from 07-08 up until 10-11. Do they still customize Thrashers jerseys? If not, who can do them according to team guidelines? Does anyone still do them? I want the fonts, sizing, and everything done accurately.

Also, where is the best place to find blank Thrashers jerseys? I honestly just buy Premiers so I'm looking for replica ones. I see a few on eBay in the home and away but I'm not 100% they're real even though they look good. eBay has no alternate red ones in my size either. I'm looking for all three, home, away, and alternate in a men's large. It doesn't seem like icejerseys sells them anymore unless I'm missing them so where would you guys recommend I look to get these?

I'd love to get Hossa, Kovalchuk, and Byfuglien on these blanks if I can get a hold of them and someone who can do the job correctly.

Thanks!

Edited August 1, 2014 by shilenj

[LAK74]

The original team customizer for the Thrashers was a company called AIS/SportsRobe. Around 2009 or so, the person who lettered the jerseys at AIS formed his own company, Bobcat Athletic, and took over the team customization contract until the Thrashers left Atlanta to become the Winnipeg Jets. I have no idea at all whether AIS letters jerseys for the general public. Bobcat has the original fonts and can letter Thrashers jerseys, but it isn't always easy to get in contact with them.

[LAK74]

I don't know who has the best prices on these, but Hockey Monkey has some on clearance, and they seem to be having a 20% off sale on everything for the next few days. These would be legit for sure.

http://www.hockeymonkey.com/rbk-hockey-jersey-edge-premier-atl.html

Hockey Jerseys Direct may have some as well, but you would have to contact them directly to find out what sizes or models they still have in stock.

www.hockeyjerseysdirect.com/hjd/rbk-premeast.asp

They may also have some Edge authentics available, but you could probably get a better deal on eBay; Thrashers authentics don't usually fetch high prices.

Edited July 31, 2014 by LAK74

[shilenj]

You rock. Thanks for the information. So are all the jerseys on Hockey Monkey 100% real and legit (if so, they have other teams on sale too, I might look at those as well)? I've never purchased from them before but have a lot of posters on here gone through them? They have both the away and third in my size and $59.99 is a nice price even for a blank Premier.

Also, you mentioned the first company stopped doing the customization around 2009, so perhaps for the last two years of existence of the Thrashers Bobcat Athletic took over. So the questions I have are, first, is there any way to tell if a Premier jersey is from a certain season based on the tags or anything inside the jersey, other than the Reebok vector/wordmark? Say I want to do one as a Hossa 07-08. Is there anything you can see by looking at a Premier jersey that I can say "This matches the 07-08 season."? Basically, I wouldn't want to toss money on a blank replica with the intention of customizing it as an 07-08 and then find out by someone looking at it and telling me that it's really not matching to that year and matches a different season without my knowing. Also, say I wanted that Hossa from 07-08. Would I have to bring it to the first company to see if they can letter it, since they were the ones who did the customization during the 07-08 season? Hossa was gone long before 2009. Or would Bobcat have the same exact fonts used in 07-08 as well? Basically, I just want it all to match correctly, so is there anything I should do before buying to ensure I'm buying the right blank jersey other than checking for vector/wordmark (won't worry about that here, as the Thrashers were gone by the time the wordmark came to be), and to ensure the customization matches the year? Sorry if it sounds confusing. I'm new to customizing jerseys so I'm just trying to start off by buying the blanks and hoping I can match it all correctly.

Some people don't care but I very much do want to have everything match the appropriate season and player I'm choosing. In this case, I'd like to probably buy an 07-08 home and make it a Hossa, an 07-08 away and make it a Kovalchuk, and a 10-11 alternate and make it a Byfuglien. Those exact three are the ones I've wanted.

Edited August 1, 2014 by shilenj

[LAK74]

Hockey Monkey is a legitimate company and all the Reebok jerseys they sell should be officially-licensed. I'm sorry but I misread the e-mail about the 20% off sale starting today- it seems to be in-store only. There was a 20% off sale that was listed on the website today, but that is for on-line sales and supposedly ENDS July 31. It looks like all the Premiers went back up to $99 as of right now, but you seem to have lucked out in that the Thrashers are the only ones still at $59. But I don't know how long that will last. The funny thing is that it's August 1 right now but the SUMVS20 on-line sale code still seems to work.

As far as I know, there should not be any significant external differences between Premier Thrashers jerseys from season to season. There are probably 2 different Reebok brand neck tags ("Rbk" vs. "Reebok") depending on when the jersey was manufactured, but in my opinion, to worry about this for the sake of accuracy is absolutely pointless. First of all, I don't think anyone knows exactly when they switched from one to the other, and secondly the authentic jerseys the players wore didn't have these tags anyway, so there's no point in worrying about whether your replica's neck label matches the originals- it will not and cannot.

I have never asked them about this, but I would imagine that Bobcat can accurately letter all seasons of Thrashers jerseys. Since you seem to be concerned with accuracy, I would also mention that the lettering kits on the gameworns were layered (stacked) up to and including the 2008-09 season. Starting with the 2009-10 season, the kits were kiss-cut. Bobcat should be able to do both.

[LAK74]

Just a couple of afterthoughts. I myself have purchased jerseys through Hockey Monkey before, and as I stated earlier, they are completely legit. I wouldn't necessarily use them for customization though, unless I were getting a Ducks Edge jersey lettered, but that just ain't gonna happen.

While I am as particular as the next person here about lettering authentic jerseys as accurately as possible, IMO (no offense intended), to obsess about every detail on a replica jersey (especially Reebok Premiers), is a waste of time. The fabrics used in the Premiers are significantly different from those used in the Edge authentics. So for example, trying to match the nameplate material to the back of the replica jersey will result in a material that looks different than the matching nameplate of an Edge. The arm patches on the replicas will be screened plastic instead of embroidered fabric on the authentics. Even some of the fabric panels like the gussets and elbows, can be constructed differently. Not to mention replicas having jock tags and no fight straps. I'm not trying to put down replicas (I started off with those too), but my point here is that if you're not worried about all those differences which are easily visible from the outside, then if you put things in perspective, it makes little sense to get all worked up about small details like a 2007/08 Premier neck label being slightly different from a 2010/11 one. Hope all of this makes sense.

[shilenj]

Again, you rock. Thanks for taking the time to answer everything and it all does make sense.

When you say the name plates are different material between the Premier and Edge, I won't have to supply them to the customizer will I? Won't they just do that for me? I'm just a bit confused about the name plate material differences between the replica and authentics you were describing. Second, the Reebok and Rbk tags are exactly what I was referring to. So it's pretty much impossible to know when they started using either one? Also what about CCM tags in the Reebok jerseys? What is that all about? I've noticed this before in some of them but not some of the newer ones.

Lastly, when I go to customize these Atlanta ones, I'd like "A" patches on them all, possibly a "C" on the Kovalchuk (haven't decided which year I'll do for him yet). Do I have to supply these as well? Or is this included when you customize and I just have to let the customizer know? Also, I'd like to put the 2008 All Star Game patch on the Hossa (I imagine the ones in the official packaging I see on eBay are legit patches) so how would I have that applied? Is that something the customizer can do as well or do I have to bring it to a local embroidery or sewing shop?

Thanks again for all your help! I might snag the away and alternate Thrashers ones from Hockey Monkey. For that price they're what I'm looking for.

Edited August 1, 2014 by shilenj

[LAK74]

Normally you don't have to supply nameplates, the customizer does that for you. But please keep in mind a couple of things- since Bobcat doesn't do these jerseys for the team anymore, they probably don't carry the original nameplate material (for the on-ice jerseys) in stock anymore. Also, the Thrashers used some unusually-colored jerseys, so it's possible Bobcat might have a hard time finding even replica material that matches in color. These are the kind of things you just have to ask them about.

You don't have to supply "C" and "A" patches; you just specify which one you want in the order, and the letter is included in the kit. All-Star patches you do have to supply- just send it with the jersey and they'll stitch it on for you.

I'll try to answer your other questions in a little while.

Edited August 2, 2014 by LAK74

[LAK74]

The 2 Premier tags that I've noticed looked like this. The Rbk one is the earliest one, which came out around 2007. The second one (Reebok) probably came out around 2008, but that's just a wild guess. With authentics it's easy to date the tags because the jerseys have born-on stickers which indicate the date of manufacture. As far as I know, Premiers don't come with that sticker, and this is why I can't be sure at all about when the new tag came out. I'm guessing about the 2008 date for the "Reebok" tag because retail authentics have similar "Rbk" and "Reebok" neck tags, and all my jerseys with 2007 born-on stickers have the "Rbk" tag, while all the jerseys that come with the "Reebok" tag have dates of 2008 or later. But I have one oddball jersey with a born-on date of Sept. 2010, and it has the old "Rbk" tag on it. So I'm sure there are exceptions, which is another reason why I recommend you not worry about the tag issue.

Edited August 2, 2014 by LAK74

[LAK74]

The nameplate issue might be a bit hard to explain, but I'll try my best.

The Thrashers Edge gameworn jerseys had back panels and nameplates made of stretch mesh, which contains spandex, and as the name implies, is quite elastic. The following pictures are of gamers, and you can see how the nameplates match the back panels in color and texture. If you own an authentic and are trying to get it customized, then ultimately this is the material you want.

Unfortunately, 2 of the colors the Thrashers used were cobalt blue and crimson, and stretch mesh in these colors is pretty difficult to find- most professional customizers probably don't even stock it, as it's quite expensive.

On Premiers, the back panel of the jersey is mesh-like, but it's thinner, less stretchy and has a different hole pattern than the material used on game jerseys. So what material would you want to use for a nameplate on a Premier? If it were me, I would just try to match it colorwise and texturewise to the Premier back panel. But even that material in those colors may not be easy to find at most customizers. I'd bet that most customizers would end up just using a nameplate that was similar in color but wouldn't care if the texture was noticeably different. The following are customized Premiers currently for sale, and you can see that the texture of the nameplate is quite different from that of the back of the jersey.

You may have to settle for nameplates like this, unless you go out of your way to find this material beforehand, or even buy a similar blank jersey to cut up for nameplate material. We have a thread in The Trading Post called "Nameplates Needed," where you can ask if anyone happens to already have material that you are looking for, so you can avoid the extra expense of buying a jersey to sacrifice for the nameplate. But even if you are lucky enough to find matching Premier material, it will look good on the jersey, but it will not be the same as the gameworns because the two jersey types are constructed of different materials to begin with. How much trouble you will go through to get the materials you need will ultimately be determined by how picky you are and how much all these details matter to you.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Edited August 2, 2014 by LAK74