My new skates finally arrived yesterday. I was very pleasantly surprised.
It’s rare these days when companies take pride in customer service and providing quality products. This is especially true in sporting equipment since the likes of Reebok and Nike have bought up all of the major manufacturers of skates and pads. (I was shocked to learn that CCM no longer produces the Tacks line of hockey skates! Blame Reebok.)
Skates are no small investment with typical prices in the $250 – $500 range. Even with all of the wiz-bang synthetic materials a top of the line pair of skates from one of these “sneaker” companies will only last for two or three seasons at best. That’s not true of Graf skates.
My last pair of Grafs were purchased in 1988 when I played Division I college hockey. They are the Supra 707 model. I didn’t realize it at the time but back then this model was a pro-level skate only made on a custom order basis. When I went to my local pro shop and tried to place an order for the same type of skate they were a little dumbfounded. They had never seen a pair of 707s. I had no idea that they were anything special.
After a couple of months of playing phone tag with various Graf outside sales reps the pro shop owner finally got a Graf corporate rep on the phone that was familiar with the 707 line and history. The rep asked what my name was and where I played hockey in college. With that info he pulled up the specs on the skates that were made for me back in 1988. Yes, they still had me on file and were able to fill a custom order for skates built to my exact specs. How amazing is that? The new ones use modern materials but they are essentially lighter versions of the same skates. I was really impressed. You just don’t see this kind of attention paid to a customer’s needs very often these days.
My Graf Supra 707s have lasted almost 20 years. I’ll admit that there was a span of 9 years that they didn’t see much (if any) use. For at least five of those 20 years they were on the ice two or three times a week. I’m a big guy with big feet. I put a lot more stress on a skate than your average player. This is just a testament to the high quality of Graf skates. In my opinion they’re the best skates available anywhere. If your feet are done growing the quality of these skates also makes them them the best bargain. They aren’t cheap but if they last for five to ten years they are much cheaper than a skate you have to replace every two or three years. I hope that my new pair of 707s lasts another 20 years like my first pair.