Christmas deliveries, new partnerships and new gloves coming

This week at GKHero has been a little quieter behind the scenes that regular readers of this blog will be used to; most of our time has been needed to handle the volume incoming orders. Having said that, there’s still a fair amount to report on from the last seven days.

I’ve finished adding some of the range of kit and accessories we produced for Keepers Goalkeeping Coaching to the website, which provides an example of one of the types of project we’re able to deliver for our partners. Jon at ‘Keepers’ has been delighted with the products, and has already expressed interest in expanding the range into further sizes.

Talking of partnerships, I’ve reached an agreement to share GKHeroTV content with a popular goalkeeping website. I’m aiming to fully launch GKHeroTV in the New Year, although I’m well aware that projects such as this can sometimes experience hold-ups. Some of our reviewers have already received their first batch of products to test before recording their video reviews. We now have plenty of reviewers signed-up and on board, but if it’s not too late if you’d like to get involved, just drop us a line for more information.

I’ve also taken the first step toward formalising an existing link with a partner in Ireland, whose remit will be to raise awareness, and push sales to clubs and organisations. If you think you’d be a good representative of GKHero, and if you have relationships with a number of clubs or goalkeeping schools in your area, then we may be able to offer an opportunity to get involved and earn some cash. Just introduce yourself to us in an email, and let us know why you would be a positive ambassador for GKHero.

Looking forward, I expect to be adding new RK1s models to our Outlet Store in the next week. Another thing I expect is an influx of emails asking if orders will be delivered in time for Christmas. We guarantee that all UK and Channel Island orders received before 18th December will be delivered before Christmas day. Deliveries outside of the UK will obviously take longer, and delivery times will vary significantly depending on the destination, but if you drop us a line a sales@GKHero.com we’ll let you know the last order date for your country.

Until next week,

Chris

Internatonal results, the FA Cup, Christmas shopping and more GKHero projects

I’m sat writing this week’s blog at the end of a busy week of football here in the UK. I think that every conceivable viewpoint on the result and performance has been made and countered following England’s friendly victory over the Spanish world and European champions, and I don’t think I can add anything to what has already been voiced by the nation’s pundits and ‘experts’. It’s a shame that all of the debate over the relevance over the England game overshadowed the attention afforded to Wales’ convincing triumph over Norway; and the FA’s dispute with FIFA over England’s adorning of the poppy took at least some of the limelight the Irish lads deserved for their demolition of Estonia, as well as Scotland for their win in Cyprus.

In addition to the international fixtures, this weekend also saw the return of the First Round Proper of the biggest domestic competition in the world, the FA Cup. Whilst this is when the competition kicked off in earnest in many peoples’ eyes, the fact is that the Cup’s first matches were played way back in the second and third weeks of August. In fact, August was when my Club started this season’s FA Cup journey, and unfortunately it was also where it ended following a defeat away to higher-league opposition. One club that has fared somewhat better is one of my former clubs, Oxford City, who secured their place in the second round draw following a 0-0 draw away to Redbridge. The prize awaiting them if they’re able to overcome the same opposition in the replay is a visit to League 2 side Crawley Town; who themselves had a terrific run in the competition last season before running Manchester United close in a 1-0 reverse at Old Trafford in the Fifth Round. Whilst Crawley probably didn’t represent most peoples’ definition of underdogs due to their reported financial backing and management, there’s no doubt that they themselves will be the subject of a relative giant-killing, and I’d be made up if it were at the hands of my former teammates.

A quick review of our sales this week shows that our sales of junior sizes have seen a significantly marked increase, which, as well as keeping us busy, has heaped plenty of guilt on me as I’ve given no thought to Christmas presents yet! The response to our special offer on HPG’s models has been fantastic, and I’m pleased that this has given loads of keepers an opportunity to experience HPG for the first time. The only adverse, but inevitable, effect has been that we’re now pretty much sold out with the exception of a few size 7s.

Sales are a massive part of GKHero and they are vital to enabling the business to progress, but, unlike other retailers, it isn’t the only part. GKHero is quickly expanding into new areas and I’m continually working on new projects and ventures to drive GKHero toward becoming an integral part of the professional and grass-roots goalkeeping community.

Regular Brainwaves readers will be well-aware of GKHeroTV. The interest and level of response has been really pleasing for me, and today I have been in contact with everyone who successfully applied to be part of the project to offer them their first products to review. If you’re interested in joining our team, take a look at our invitation, and drop us a line. I’m keen to get a broad mix of reviewers, and we’re particularly interested to hear from female keepers, and keepers based outside of the UK.

This week also saw an agreement which will see GKHero providing matchday polo shirts for a non-league club’s players and officials. I also received an email from, and subsequently enjoyed some really positive exchanges with, a goalkeeping academy looking for their own branded kit and accessories for their coaches and keepers.

On the product front, I received contact from a relatively new South American company, and I expect to have a couple of their glove ranges in stock in January or February. I can’t say any more at present, other than ‘watch this space’!

That’s about it for this week. As always, please feel free to get in touch through any of our many channels now open.

Chris

Psychology of goalkeeping, gloves for under a tenner, and this week I have been mostly wearing…

When we decided that I would try a weekly blog my main worry was that I wouldn’t have enough to write about. Putting pen to paper (or rather finger to key) over the last three weeks has really opened my eyes to just how quickly things move at GKHero, and my biggest difficulty has been in squeezing everything into a reasonably-sized chunk of text. I have a tendency to get engrossed and caught-up in whatever I’m doing whether it be working, goalkeeping, playing with my boys or doing the laundry! Taking some time out at the end of the week to reflect one the previous, and look forward to the next, seven days has actually proved really useful and ‘m sure will benefit the business, as well as helping you keep up to date with GKHero and my thoughts on the industry.

Last week I announced that I’d reached an agreement with Watford FC coach to make his brand available through our Outlet Store, and four RK1s models, including negative cut, roll finger, wrapped-cut and finger protection gloves can now be purchased, all for under £20.

I also mentioned that I’d secured a partnership with a sports psychology company, and earlier this week an audio product produced by MINDSi Sports Performance, available in both CD and MP3 formats, was launched at GKHero.com. Eye On The Ball Peak Performance for Goalkeepers features MINDSi’s founder and Senior Sports Performance Coach Gavin Wilson. Gavin has a rare, but very effective skillset, being both a FA-qualified goalkeeping coach and scout for a professional club, and a wealth of experience and qualification in psychology, and sports psychology in particular. You can benefit from Gavin and MINDSI’s experience for just £14.99.

This week we also started what I can only describe as a frankly ridiculous offer on HPG’s current 2011 range. Their full range of roll finger and negative cut mega grip gloves are now less than £10. I really should mention the caveat that this is only while existing stocks last, so if you’ve yet to give these models a go, before to order before your size is sold out.

This week I’ve also agreed a deal with German company Josef Fischer. Their 678 Legend models have been our best-seller since GKHero.com was reborn two and a half weeks ago, and I’m really pleased to have reached an agreement to make many more of their models available. I expect these to be online in the next fortnight, so if you’ve tried (and without question, loved) the Legends, be sure to keep an eye out for their new models.

Away from the GKHero, I also play a bit too. After what had been a very positive week, my team suffered a massive disappointment yesterday. Having gone through the various qualifying and preliminary rounds, we were knocked out of the FA Vase at the hands of the league leads from a step higher. Our lads matched them for work rate but the difference in quality eventually manifest itself in two second-half goals which we couldn’t answer. A big positive for me however was the performance of my Bramic Signatures. I worked closely with Bramic in developing and testing the prototype and the retail Signature model; although this was the first occasion I had given the retail model matchtime. It’s without question one of the best-performing supersoft latexes I’ve experienced and, in my opinion, and like many of the models we offer, it really does put many of the household-name brands to shame. Especially when you consider that it’s less than £20. I’ve been led to believe that Bramic may be extended their Signature range and I’m looking forward to seeing their future releases.

Unfortunately we sold out of our stock of PRO-GK’s Revolution 09 glove this week, although we do still have their Revolution Aqua and Revolution Aqua NC for half price, although this stock is dwindling quickly also. I think it’s likely that we’ll sell out of these models fairly quickly after the season’s first drops of rain hit pitches around the UK, so if you want to guarantee getting your hands in pair I’d advise doing so before the first downpour.

I think that’ll do for this week’s blog, as always please feel free to comment or drop me a line using the ‘contact Chris’ link in the navigation bar toward the top of this page. Alternatively you can get in touch through Facebook or Twitter or through the contact form on our site.

Chris

New brands. New products. New prices.

Welcome to the second instalment of my blog, which I’m writing after a very eventful seven days.

During the course of the week I’ve been testing a sample of RK1s gloves, which were sent over to us by the brand’s owner Reece Kirk. Reece is a professional goalkeeping coach at Championship club Watford FC and the Harefield Academy; and also runs his own goalkeeping school. The RK1s range benefits from a no-frills approach to design, which has already built a strong following of keepers who prefer a primarily white, no-nonsense glove. We’ll initially be adding the RK1s range to our Outlet Store in the next week or so, and I’d welcome any comment you have on the range. Yesterday morning we received glove samples from another brand and we’ll be putting them through their paces in the week ahead.

Earlier this week we added the Tyger Paw to our portfolio.  This was really pleasing for me because, as I mentioned last week, I’m really keen to broaden the product-base we have at GKHero.com. As soon as I saw the Tyger Paw it immediately struck me as a product which was closely aligned to what we value most at GKHero. Firstly, it’s innovative. Secondly, at £12.95 it’s great-value. And thirdly, and above all, the product serves a real purpose. Finally, it also looks damn cool! With those four things in mind, I wasn’t surprised to receive the heads-up from the guys at Tyger on Friday night that the product was to feature on Soccer AM the following morning. It was great to see a product I and GKHero have supported gain recognition on such a scale so quickly. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the Tyger Paw becomes an integral part of every self-respecting keeper’s kit bag! I’ve recently reached an agreement with a very well-respected sports psychology company who work with keepers to provide the confidence, mental toughness and coping techniques needed to be the best in our position. In the days ahead we’ll be adding further depth to our range of products with a very special offering from that company – keep an eye at GKHero.com and on our Facebook and Twiter pages for further information.

Earlier today we started a very special offer the remaining stock of Bramic’s Signature Pro glove. At £26.99 this glove was great value, but at our new special price at under £20 the Signature Pro represents an absolute bargain! Like many brands, Bramic were given their first break from a retailer by GKHero and since that time I’ve built a really positive relationship with Brad Gilbert, who heads up the Bramic brand, and I’m thrilled that we’ve been able to work together to enable GKHero to offer this glove to the market at such a low price.

Chris

We’re back!

Calling goalkeepers of the world… GKHero is back with a completely revamped and, I hope you’ll agree, a much improved, home at GKHero.com. To be honest, the response to the new site has surpassed my expectations and I’m genuinely really grateful to those of you who have hung in there and waited patiently while we’ve been offline.

Those of you who are familiar with GKHero will already know what we’re about, and those of you who aren’t can check out the about us page on site. We’ve worked really hard over the summer months and we’ve got a lot of new and new brands products to tempt you, as well as some of last season’s favourites at discounted prices.

Our first range of goalkeeper kit is now available, with long and short sleeved shirt and padded and non-padded short combinations, with full kits at just under £25. Watch this space for more kit and accessories, which I expect will launch in the coming weeks.

One of the most pleasing developments over recent weeks has been my work with partners in the wider goalkeeping and football community. We received delivery of a broad range of kit and accessories including shirts, shorts, trousers, socks, sweatshirts, rainjackets, beanies and glove bags we have produced in partnership with Keepers Goalkeeping Coaching, for those of you who are interested, I’ll make sure that some photographs of our work are on our site in the next couple of weeks. I’m also working on an exciting project with an Evo-Stik Northern League Northern Premier club to produce matchday tracksuits and polo shirts.

One of my current priorities is to broaden the range of products available at GKHero.com, and this weekend I’ve agreed a deal that will bring a completely new product to the site. I expect this to be available in the next couple of days so remember to keep an eye on the site.

Well that’s about it for now, please feel free to let me know if you’ve got any suggestions or requests for the type of thing you’d like to read here over the coming weeks and months, or any other comments you have.

Chris