Treviso, Italy entered the North American market in the 1990’s. Founded in 1972 by Armando Rizzo, Risport reduced the weight of the boot substantially by developing a patented molded plastic sole, wrapped in a leather veneer. In 1995, Risport became part of the Lange Boot company, a leader in ski boot manufacturing. Risport is now a key division of Lange and the Rossignol Group. Embracing assembly line production, Risport can produce up 1000 pairs a day using robotics. The new millennium offered opportunities for new and old alike; some successful, some not. The Professional Skaters Association introduced the PSA Boot and Blade, a product based on the design suggestions from PSA coaches and manufactured to those specifications by John Wilson and Riedell Boot Company. The blade featured a 7” radius and straight cut toe picks. The boot was the popular Riedell model 250. At a retail cost of $135 dollars it was an excellent introductory free-skate package. Although sales of the PSA boot and blade were acceptable, it never reached projections. By 2007, the program lost steam and was shut down. Another boot to debut was Legacy in 2001. Randy Nelson, a former SP-Teri employee, moved to Chicago along with two other former SP-Teri boot makers to start the new boot company using the Oberhamer patterns and lasts. SP-Teri had made boots from the Oberhamer lasts for a brief time after Oberhamer closed its doors in 1997. To keep expenses at a minimum, the Legacy boots were actually being made in a storage unit… it lasted less than a season. Founded by Sabrina Merlo in 2000, the first Edea skates debuted on February 2, 2002. Merlo, daughter of Antonio Merlo and Caterina Rizzo, is the niece of Armando Rizzo, who established Risport Skates. The group spent two years on the development of the first Edea boot and continues to evolve their design. The Edea boot is marketed as the lightest skate, weighing in between 20% to 50% lighter than traditional style leather boots. The footbed is made of molded nylon fiber-glass and its design resists rotational torque. The thin footbed also lowers the skaters center of gravity creating a more stable feeling. Rob Rudolph of Chicago was a short track speed skater who considers himself an inventor. Around the millennium, Johannes Bennink, owner of Maple (speed) skates was in from the Netherlands and met Rudolph in Chicago at the old Rainbo rink at Clark and Foster. Rainbo used to sell speed skate equipment and Cale Carvell suggested that there was a need for a lightweight figure skate design. Drawing on his speed skating background, Rudolph came up with an innovative design and Bennink offered to produce the blade. Johannes did make the first prototypes, but after a year or so he was not able to produce in mass and dropped the project. Rob continued to shop his design with several of the established blade manufactures, eventually entering into an agreement with John Wilson. After two years and a failed attempt on a patent for his design, Rudolph left Wilson, and finding a company in Taiwan who could handle production, formed Paramount Sk8s, Inc. Uniquely, Paramount blade holders are machined from a single piece of lightweight aircraft aluminum with a high quality carbon steel runner. In 2008, Jackson Ultima’s parent company, Tournament Sports Marketing acquired GAMSPORTS Inc., the maker of Gam Skates. Tournament Sports is a privately held Canadian company owned by Kim Bauer, who continued a strategy of
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MAY | JUNE 2014
A fine selection of boot and blade manufacturers regularly attend our annual PSA conference Trade Shows. Come see them in Palm Springs!
acquisition by buying Rose Custom Boots. Rose, of Cambridge, Ontario, had been making boots since 1974 as a popular family-run business and was shut down shortly after being acquired. For many years, Riedell skates were the North American distributor for the John Wilson and MK brands for HD Sports. In 2010, that relationship ended. That decision brought several changes and additions to the market. HD Sports initially made a strategic decision to work directly with several independent skate technicians and coaches. One of those coaches was Warren Maxwell, a coach from the Dallas area. While the relationship was never finalized, Maxwell realized that the best-selling blades had all been designed over fifty years prior and for mostly double jumps. Maxwell suggested that HD, “...develop blades that would be more relevant to modern figure skating.” Since the millennium, HD did make several changes and innovations to their blade like introducing the parabolic blade and more recently adding composite materials, the rocker profile remained the same on their models. Maxwell decided to design a blade and go into business himself. His company SkateScience designed the first blade specifically made for triple and quad jumps. Specifically, the “sweet spot” has been moved backwards toward the arch, allowing the drop pick to engage the ice quicker. The rocker profile is in fact similar to the now-defunct Strauss blade of 20th century. The SkateScience blade is manufactured in Quebec City, Canada by Patins Step (Step Skating Blades). Step has been making blades for over 50 years. In fact, before Jackson Ultima began manufacturing their own blades, they were made by Step, who also produces the ISE brand for Jerry’s Skating World. Another current blade made by Step is Riedell’s Eclipse brand. When HD Sports ended their relationship with Riedell, it created a void in product Continued on page 41