A few weeks ago, Cascade R and Warrior Regulator helmets were declared uncertified by NOCSAE standards. This past Friday, Cascade announced they came up with solutions alongside NOCSAE following constant updates throughout the process.
Where’s Warrior and what are they doing?
In the few retail lacrosse stores there are across the nation stand giant Regulator displays. Mocked up helmets sit on a helmet throne center of the display. All T-II helmets had been removed from shelves and Regulators are all you can buy.
Posters in different stores and websites adorn professional players sporting the Regulators. Most old signs for the T-IIs were also removed.
That leads me to believe Warrior spent a s**t ton of money on a huge marketing campaign. One that they thought would revolutionize their company, image and reputation. One that would make them stand out amongst all the other companies attempting to create brand image and possibly helmets.
I for one have always been a Warrior fan. I’m biased towards them, they were the first gear I wore when starting lacrosse and stuck to them. They’re quite popular, so I wouldn’t understand why Warrior needed all this marketing. I wore a T-II in college and loved it, and know others who did, as well. So, why remove them from stores altogether?
While Cascade has built up brand awareness over time and didn’t invest money into marketing recently (or at least to the extent it seems Warrior did), they have the funds necessary to recover from this mistake. They will be modifying all helmets around the world and paying all costs including shipping.
We’ve heard nothing from Warrior regarding their helmets. No T-IIs or other models have filled the shelf voids. There haven’t been press releases regarding what they’ll do to recover. And their displays are still in stores.
I think Warrior consciously knew what they were doing, and took a cheap way out to make more profit. They spent the marketing costs estimating they’d recover them in sales. Gloves, elbows and shoulders are still popular, but they now have no helmets to sell, which is where the real profits are.
Warrior is in trouble, in my opinion. They better say or do something in the near future if they hope to retain their reputation and clients.
