Easton Hockey had a big day today, as Easton-Bell Sports announced the purchase MLX Skate’s technology. This aggressive move by Easton Hockey will set them up for what they hope will be a more competitive future by combining their own developments with the innovation brought by MLX Skates. Read the full press release below for more details, and let us know what you think of this incredible announcement.
November 9, 2011; (Van Nuys, CA) – – Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. – a leading designer, developer and marketer of branded sports equipment and accessories under the Easton, Bell, Giro, Riddell and Blackburn brands – today announced its largest and most aggressive commitment in skate innovation through its recent purchase of MLX Skate’s technology. The newly created Easton Speed Institute will combine MLX’s innovative skate insights with Easton’s design and engineering prowess, leading to a new skate concept expected to be in market for the 2013 hockey season.
“As a brand, Easton is at its best when it reinvents categories with game-changing innovation,” said Chris Zimmerman, president of Easton brands. “We believe there is a unique opportunity to provide a new approach to the art and speed of skating. I am excited that Easton is committing to the skate category in a way that parallels our leadership in hockey and lacrosse sticks, baseball and softball bats, and helmets.”
Dave Cruikshank, four-time Olympian speed skater and founder of MLX, has joined the Easton Speed Institute as Chief of Speed, bringing with him a lifetime of work, skate research and development, and a new approach to making hockey players faster. As an international skater for 16 years, Cruikshank has achieved numerous skating accomplishments including: Junior World Champion 500m; Olympic Trials Gold Medalist; World Cup Medalist; and four-time USA Olympic Team Member.
“The Easton Speed Institute is about innovating a fresh approach to hockey skate designs that speaks to optimizing speed and creating the ultimate skater’s skate. The Easton Speed Institute will reinvent how a hockey skate performs, and I am thrilled to be a part of this new team that will create game-changing products,” said Cruikshank.
“Bringing Dave and MLX’s technology into the Easton family gives us the ability to reinvent skates in a way no one has before. Dave’s remarkable insights into the world of power skating are an exceptional compliment to Easton’s expertise in performance engineering and design,” said Zimmerman.
Cruikshank founded MLX to optimize the potential of both National Hockey League players and grassroots athletes by designing superior equipment with the key elements of comfort, protection and performance. The company’s roots are based in using a powerful new approach to skate performance that has been known to speed skaters for the past two decades. With the development of Easton’s new skate, the MLX skate brand will no longer be marketed.
Cruikshank will be joined by Easton veteran Dmitry Rusakov, who will lead a team of designers, engineers, developers and biomechanical experts to drive innovation. The Easton Speed Institute will be located at Easton’s headquarters in Van Nuys, California and in West Allis, Wisconsin.
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i think easton should have waited…i hear there is a new skate being developed by people in essex. from the sounds of it…it’s exciting. Hope easton gets it but i bet Bauer will scoop this up since easton has mlx
Thats awesome. I play hockey and can use any edge i can get. Will they be coming out soon
Lets hope easton spends more to have great skates in the line up
It is not just the technology of MLX that Easton will be getting….it is also the intellectual capital they will be getting from the inventor of MLX. Easton is definately putting innovation behind skates moving forward
it really sucks that a very good small company like mlx gets bought out by a giant company who makes crapp hockey equipement is going to make a name for themselves with the work of real good people.it bugs me to see that all these good little companies with excelent ideas always get bought out by large marketing firms who know nothing about equipment and who look at the money side only.it a real shame
Time will tell on this but, knowing Easton’s penchant for trowling out cheaply made crap, just like Bauer and increasingly as well CCM/Reebok, smart money says the MLX design will eventually be watered down to a mere shadow of its antecedent and, of course, wind up being MADE IN CHINA. I’m sure their current (increasingly former) manufacturers in Canada are thrilled about that, not.
With the sole exception of Graf, all these other companies have so gone downhill on their product quality and the like and again, all are now either MADE IN THAILAND or MADE IN CHINA. Witness as well with again, no surprise, the exception of Graf, there isn’t any boot that honestly anatomically moves with the foot and leg. The others are all too stiff offering little if any forward flex. This was MLX’s biggest advantage – forward flex, joining Graf in several of their models, principally the G7. It should also be mentioned that again, with the exception of Graf, the insane increasingly lighter and lighter weight nonsense has additionally rendered so many boots to simply be pop out junk. Welcome to the new world of pop out junk sports equipment. And the best part, they market the higher margin junk at no small price to the public.
This is sad news. I have the MLX skates and it was so nice to have hockey skates that were well designed. I was actually going to write a nice review about them.
To learn they have sold out……another in a long line of quality “mom and pop” products that were made to be usefull that now will be totally ruined by some greedy suit who knows nothing about the product, other than how to make a quick buck.
Mlx wasn’t going anywhere there technology wasn’t even that good I just wish the rs skates and eq50 can turn Easton’s bad line of skates around