UA Poly Wool Pants...

[Chris Hickman]

http://www.ump-attire.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=UAPW-PL&Category_Code=NEWBB&Product_Count=4

[hckyosgood30]

So why are these pants made by the same people as honigs, from the same fabric..... And again unhemmed same as honigs. So I'm paying $15 more per pant for an expander waist band.... Don't think so Sorry Jim. Your WAY over priced! Especially since Honigs just put their poly-wools 99% the same as yours for $50! NO Way sorry. Bring the price down please if you want a market share. The umpiring community asked Honigs to drop their prices and they did. So why would you drive the price point up for almost an identical product that comes out of the same shop?

[zm1283]

Not a fan of the expander waistbands, and I will stick with the Honigs polywools, especially since they lowered their price.

[Haid D' Salaami]

I just dont understand why the price is so high?...I mean $10 per pants higher..Jim your better than that

[johnnyg08]

I have Honigs plate pants at $70 and Jim's are $77. So you're actually paying $7 for the expander waistband...to me, it's actually worth it. $7 is less than an inning of work for many of my games.

Honigs base pants are $66, Jim's are $75, so that's a $9 swing for those. Still under and inning's work and you get the expander waist which is nice up in Minnesota because often times we have to layer up in the spring.

So for me, I think they're fairly priced...it's probably been about one year since Honigs dropped the prices on their poly's which held in the mid $70's for years!

I guess I just don't see where you guys are getting $15 difference in price...what am I missing??

[AZump78]

Honigs Poly Wools have been the industry standard for years and it looks as though that will remain the case. Even if these WERE less expensive, I doubt I would make the switch.

BTW, U-A is more expensive than everyone else on almost all other items so I'm not sure why anyone thought this would be any different.

[kylejt]

Hagar has been making Comfort waist slack, with the same expander, for years, I love those pants. GD put them in their charcoal attempt, and I like the fit of those, also.(I don't care for the fabric, but that's another thread). So, I like the idea of having a waistband that adjusts to your eating habits.

Will I buy the U-A pants? I dunno. What I really have a beef with is the picture in the ad. Come on, man. That's an awful depiction of what they're trying to sell. Rumpled and sloppy. (yeah, I know that's what we actually look like with them on, but give us some hope).

Remember the old +POS catalogs, those guys were sharp.That's what they need there.

p.s. see that longs sleeved shirt? That's the best umpire garment ever made. It had a cotten liner sewed into it, and was soooooo warm and comfortable.

[Kevin Finnerty]

You're spot-on! That picture is horrible! What in the world were they thinking/doing? (And how do you like that non-standard belt?)

As for the old +POS lined long-sleeve shirt: Instead, I had one of these sewn into a black long-sleeve shirt:

It is as comfortable and more protective than the +POS lined shirt was (I tried one once--shiny dazzle fabric looked horrible).

I also wear one under a jacket or other long-sleeve without it being sewn in. (The one I used to line the shirt, I had trimmed at the collar to give it a V-neck, so it's completely hidden.) It's a great system for those six weeks of cold days we have here in January-February.

[hckyosgood30]

Johnny... Honigs pants are currently on sale. 10% off of their original price, which was lowered because Umpires said the price was to high. So right now today the pants are only $60 not 66. Also as recently at 2 weeks ago they had the pants on sale for $50 which now would give you a 25 dollar difference for the base pants. So you add those factors plus the fact that U-A has a higher shipping rate than Honigs, and as of now no offering to hem these pants. Sorry I'm not a fan of the expander waist band and the price point for an almost identical pant is to high.

[rth54]

UA offers tremendous customer service, but, I would have to agree that their prices for both gear and shipping are generally higher than Honigs.

[Kevin Finnerty]

I have purchased several things from Ump-Attire principally because of Jim's reputation for superior service. I don't call often, but when I do, Jim and his staff are as truly helpful and professional as any staff you'll encounter in this industry. With Honig's, you can toss a coin. Sometimes, you're treated professionally, and other times, you can be treated as anything from a nuisance on down.

One call went like this:

"Hello, I have purchased a couple of pairs of your Ultimate slacks, and despite their being advertised as charcoal gray, they are a much lighter shade of gray than even your own polywools. Why are they described as charcoal gray?"

Response: the sound of a telephone hanging up.

Very professional.

Believe me, I would love nothing more than to depend on Honig's for absolutely nothing. All of their protective gear is inferior and overpriced, and with the Majestic shirts having taken over, the only thing that I must rely on them for at this point is their polywool slacks.

Now, for the exceptional service that Ump-Attire offers, several dollars more for something is usually well worth it. I got hosed buying a Gold CP from Epic Sports, only to have it be the wrong size, and rather than return it and pay their exorbitant shipping and re-stocking fees, I sold it on good faith ("Can I pay you the last $50 after my tournament next week?") to a private party--a member at Officiating.com. He screwed me out of the last $50.

I bought my keeper Gold from Jim like I should have in the first place. It was $25 higher than Epic's price, but it was absolutely a no-risk transaction. I have bought all of my big-ticket gear from Jim--

that Gold, a Platinum, and three titanium masks--due to his superior brand of service.

Now, all of that being said, I agree that coming in at a higher price on the new polywools is a blunder, and should be corrected. I'll pay it if they are as good or slightly better or slightly different. But a majority of us will not.

[johnnyg08]

Johnny... Honigs pants are currently on sale. 10% off of their original price, which was lowered because Umpires said the price was to high. So right now today the pants are only $60 not 66. Also as recently at 2 weeks ago they had the pants on sale for $50 which now would give you a 25 dollar difference for the base pants. So you add those factors plus the fact that U-A has a higher shipping rate than Honigs, and as of now no offering to hem these pants. Sorry I'm not a fan of the expander waist band and the price point for an almost identical pant is to high.

The deal was a black Friday deal...and a good deal at that.

You make many great points that I can't disagree with...but some are saying that he's way out of bounds on his price point and I really don't think he is. I also wouldn't say that Honigs listened to their customers until the rumor came out about UA coming out w/ their own.

As far back as I can remember, those pants, both plate and base had price points in the $70's. They might have even been as high as $85 at one point.

[Kevin Finnerty]

I actually bought a fifth pair two days before that Black Friday special, and they still charged me full pop, even though they hadn't even filled my order yet.

Nice little piece of professional courtesy there ... thanks again, Honig's.

[AZump78]

I have purchased several things from Ump-Attire principally because of Jim's reputation for superior service. I don't call often, but when I do, Jim and his staff are as truly helpful and professional as any staff you'll encounter in this industry. With Honig's, you can toss a coin. Sometimes, you're treated professionally, and other times, you can be treated as anything from a nuisance on down. One call went like this: "Hello, I have purchased a couple of pairs of your Ultimate slacks, and despite their being advertised as charcoal gray, they are a much lighter shade of gray than even your own polywools. Why are they described as charcoal gray?" Response: the sound of a telephone hanging up. Very professional. Believe me, I would love nothing more than to depend on Honig's for absolutely nothing. All of their protective gear is inferior and overpriced, and with the Majestic shirts having taken over, the only thing that I must rely on them for at this point is their polywool slacks. Now, for the exceptional service that Ump-Attire offers, several dollars more for something is usually well worth it. I got hosed buying a Gold CP from Epic Sports, only to have it be the wrong size, and rather than return it and pay their exorbitant shipping and re-stocking fees, I sold it on good faith ("Can I pay you the last $50 after my tournament next week?") to a private party--a member at Officiating.com. He screwed me out of the last $50. I bought my keeper Gold from Jim like I should have in the first place. It was $25 higher than Epic's price, but it was absolutely a no-risk transaction. I have bought all of my big-ticket gear from Jim-- that Gold, a Platinum, and three titanium masks--due to his superior brand of service. Now, all of that being said, I agree that coming in at a higher price on the new polywools is a blunder, and should be corrected. I'll pay it if they are as good or slightly better or slightly different. But a majority of us will not.

Well put Kev. Jim is a great guy to do business with and worth the extra $10 or $15 bucks on higher ticket items. The ONLY thing that really bugs me is offering free shipping only for purchases of $300 or more, that is absurd. Anytime you drop a bill at an online retailer, I expect shipping to be gratis. Just a pet peeve I guess.

Poly wools rock and I could never go back to any other pair of slacks, but I totally agree that Honig's as whole is not a joy to deal with, especially if your group mandates that you purchase from them. Then they won't even pretend to care!

Anyhow, look forward to seeing a partner down the road show up with these U-A slacks so I can check them out first hand.

[hckyosgood30]

Kevin, I've also bought things from Honigs right before they went on sale. I simply called up their main office in Ann Arbor and they credited my account. You have to remember with Honigs they have affliated distrobution centers or franchises. If you ever have any issues don't call the regional centers. Call someone in the main office and usually they're more that willing to help on issues. Now as for the black friday sale. As a retail manager I had alot of customers in your shoes and black friday is a different animal completely. Usually in order to have those issues fixed you had to have called them on black friday not a few days after. Just my thoughts.

[Haid D' Salaami]

I have only had good experiences with Honigs..

last week in New Orleans they came to town, and had some really good sales, I went to get another pair of Poly Wools ( which will make 4 pairs each) and they were out of my size, before I could say anything the kid say " don't worry will will ship them too you and give you the same price, it's not your fault we ran out of your size".. 3 days later I had a box on my door...LOL..

at a 2 week umpire clinic I called them on the phone and ordered shoes over the phone, and had good service..

UA I have only bought a few things, yes they are over priced, but to me all things are over priced..LOL I thought UA would sell these pants at the same price or a tad lower to compete with Honigs.. guess i was wrong.

[johnnyg08]

They're not the same price though...because the do offer the expander...again, I'm not trying to be a UA apologist...I really am not...but it's not apples to apples...

[kylejt]

You're spot-on! That picture is horrible! What in the world were they thinking/doing? (And how do you like that non-standard belt?)

As for the old +POS lined long-sleeve shirt: Instead, I had one of these sewn into a black long-sleeve shirt:

It is as comfortable and more protective than the +POS lined shirt was (I tried one once--shiny dazzle fabric looked horrible).

I also wear one under a jacket or other long-sleeve without it being sewn in. (The one I used to line the shirt, I had trimmed at the collar to give it a V-neck, so it's completely hidden.) It's a great system for those six weeks of cold days we have here in January-February.

The guy at The Official's Choice actually made me a better shirt, from a +POS that I sent him. I don't know if it'll go into production, but it's awsome.

[Kevin Finnerty]

But it's Official's Choice.

[justwin]

I have purchased several things from Ump-Attire principally because of Jim's reputation for superior service. I don't call often, but when I do, Jim and his staff are as truly helpful and professional as any staff you'll encounter in this industry. With Honig's, you can toss a coin. Sometimes, you're treated professionally, and other times, you can be treated as anything from a nuisance on down.

One call went like this:

"Hello, I have purchased a couple of pairs of your Ultimate slacks, and despite their being advertised as charcoal gray, they are a much lighter shade of gray than even your own polywools. Why are they described as charcoal gray?"

Response: the sound of a telephone hanging up.

Very professional.

Believe me, I would love nothing more than to depend on Honig's for absolutely nothing. All of their protective gear is inferior and overpriced, and with the Majestic shirts having taken over, the only thing that I must rely on them for at this point is their polywool slacks.

Now, for the exceptional service that Ump-Attire offers, several dollars more for something is usually well worth it. I got hosed buying a Gold CP from Epic Sports, only to have it be the wrong size, and rather than return it and pay their exorbitant shipping and re-stocking fees, I sold it on good faith ("Can I pay you the last $50 after my tournament next week?") to a private party--a member at Officiating.com. He screwed me out of the last $50.

I bought my keeper Gold from Jim like I should have in the first place. It was $25 higher than Epic's price, but it was absolutely a no-risk transaction. I have bought all of my big-ticket gear from Jim--

that Gold, a Platinum, and three titanium masks--due to his superior brand of service.

Now, all of that being said, I agree that coming in at a higher price on the new polywools is a blunder, and should be corrected. I'll pay it if they are as good or slightly better or slightly different. But a majority of us will not.

If u really compare the pricing between honigs and ump attire, overall honigs is cheaper. As for service i have never had a problem with service from dick honigs and his staff in ann arbor. Ive been buying 70% of my umpire needs from honigs. Their quality of merchandise is next to one except that one year or so crop of shirts that were sub par. I have a pair of honigs plate pants still in ciruclulation and still in half decent shape that is almost 20 years old..The old stuff lasted longer. There has to be a reason why Honigs sells more umpire equipment than anyone else in the world. I know alot of guys love ump attire. The thing that gets me free shipping on orders over $300 dollars. How considerate. I have only bought from ump attire once and i purchased 3 of their ump attire shirts in 2009. They cost me $117 shipped. Shirts were good but in my opinion they were not worth the money and in my opinion the new honigs shirts at $5 cheaper per shirt is better.Also the smittys shirts for the money are very good.

[Replacematt]

Still under and inning's work and you get the expander waist which is nice up in Minnesota because often times we have to layer up in the spring.

Going to piggyback on this one...I've had games in the 70-degree range followed by 30 degrees two days later. Not only do the layers add to the size, winter weight does, too. That bit extra for an expanding waistband is well worth it. It's either that, or buy, at a minimum, a set of both plate and base in three sizes, so in poly-wools, we're talking a difference of about $430 to $160.

[Kevin Finnerty]

If u really compare the pricing between honigs and ump attire, overall honigs is cheaper. As for service i have never had a problem with service from dick honigs and his staff in ann arbor. Ive been buying 70% of my umpire needs from honigs. Their quality of merchandise is next to one except that one year or so crop of shirts that were sub par. I have a pair of honigs plate pants still in ciruclulation and still in half decent shape that is almost 20 years old..The old stuff lasted longer. There has to be a reason why Honigs sells more umpire equipment than anyone else in the world. I know alot of guys love ump attire. The thing that gets me free shipping on orders over $300 dollars. How considerate. I have only bought from ump attire once and i purchased 3 of their ump attire shirts in 2009. They cost me $117 shipped. Shirts were good but in my opinion they were not worth the money and in my opinion the new honigs shirts at $5 cheaper per shirt is better.Also the smittys shirts for the money are very good.

I do not live in Ann Arbor, and never dealt with Honig himself. My only personal dealings were with the now-defunct Southern California location (make your own joke). The rest of my dealings were with whomever answered the phone that I called from the number listed on the website. Their service is only sporadically excellent and Ump-Attire's is uniformly excellent.

I go to Honig's for some things and Ump-Attire for some things, and all over the web for everything else. And I have a lot of things. The fact is, there is no umpire supply that can fill all my needs, or the needs of most of ours. I buy slacks, Dri-Lo ball bags and some accessories and a few shirts from Honig's; some uniform shirts from Purchase Officials; some protective gear, equipment bags and uniform shirts and jackets on ebay; more shirts and jackets from BaseballSavings.com; indicators, shoe bags and New Era caps from Lester's Upstate Sports, more caps from Epic Sports and Lids; undergarments from the Under Armour.com store, Nike Outlet store, GoBros.com and various department stores; shoes from New Balance.com and outlet stores; belts from this site that Chris Hickman steered me to but I forgot the name of; and the rest of my shoes, accessories, protective gear and other stuff from Ump-Attire.

I'm not cheap, but I'm not that extravagant. It's a balance. I do actually enjoy the browsing and nibbling away at this gear collection building that I do. Ump-Attire charges fair, but not low prices. I pay the price when I buy new Wilson protective gear. I buy it from them because it's trouble-free and as efficiently and professionally transacted as possible. Perhaps I haven't mentioned clearly enough that their service is outstanding. That's because they have better people working for them, I must assume. Better people cost something, I must also assume. Ump-Attire also has the best website by far. Give their product details and buying guides a nice look. Jim shows more passion and interest than anyone in this industry. All that extra work that he does is worth something as well. So the business I give and the business I steer to Ump-Attire is based on all of that.

Honig's is No. 1 in sales simply because they're by far the oldest and largest. Come on! What kind of cheap rhetoric is that? But No. 1 or not, their sales are shrinking along with their chain of stores. They have failed to stay ahead of the game in almost every conceivable way. And that woeful crop of shirts you blithely dismissed is as good an example as any. If Jim or someone comes out with better slacks, Honig's will be irrelevant to the most umpires. The umpires whose associations have affiliations with Honig's will be the only customers left.

[justwin]

everyone is entitled to their opinion. i cant speak for honigs in california. i only deal with honigs in ann arbor . dick honig takes care of his customers.. at least with me. i can speak for others but to me i rate honigs at ann arbor the best. in 1990 honigs was very small in the market. pos in illinios was king in umpire gear if u go back that far with their bb203 and bb 204 chest protectors and light masks..honigs now has five or six location in the united states and one in canada. And their market share isnt decreasing .Its actually increasing but that being said everyone is able to shop anywhere they want. i have nothing against ump attire. like i said i only bought 3 shirts (the ultimate ones) and paid a dear price for what i thought was an avg shirt, especially for the price. yes ump attire s web site is very imformative and i wish them all the success in the future. but for me honigs and dick honig in ann arbor is number one.. on that note.. who cares really . we all buy from who we like, who we can afford and who has inventory in stock most of the time.. this site is great l i love reading the forums and everyone who posts their opinion. i respect everyone s opinion even though i dont agree with all of them as they with me. we all can learn more about equipment pricing new mechanics and tips from other umpires around the world.. another three months and the season will be here soon.. and to all my fellow umpires,,, keep up the good work finding all the retailers who have great specials online...we all like to save money..finally just win baby ...my raiders now suck lol

[Kevin Finnerty]

Just win is right, nice post.

I respect your spirit and your loyalty. Have a Merry Christmas.

[NWA_UMP]

I've never had an order screwed up from Ump-attire...Honig's can't say the same. Honig's protective gear is not up to par with other retailers. Any more I get Dry-lo's from Honig's...that's it. The predominate pants in my area is GD so I use them so I match. Jim's staff is always easy to deal with and I get my orders quickly using USPS.