Easton Customs...

Where did this collection of pictures come from?  Some look like personal shots whereas others look like corporate shots.  I'm assuming these schools have glove (and bat) contracts with these programs???

Just saw the Wilson customs on the Jupiter posting also.  I'm hoping my son doesn't see these pics as we have tried to teach him not to covet.  

Coach, is Easton getting serious about the glove market?

I would say so!

Not an Easton, but a sweet Nike...

Does Nike have glove contracts with any colleges (UNC?) where all players are expected to use Nike (or black out competing brands)?

Yes they do... Pretty sure about Duke, Oregon, USC, UGA, K-State were all Nike at one time recently... There are others, but that's off the top of my head...

Anyone have or had a son whose college had a glove contract and didn't like any of the available gloves?  I suspect Nike could reverse engineer a pretty good glove in a short period of time, but I gotta think there would be several holdouts wanting to stick with their Rawlings (as an example).  I bumped a thread a few weeks back about what items are made available to college players and most indicated that the glove was left out of the equation (whereas bats, cleats, apparel were all included at the bigger schools).

During recruiting son visited an Addidas school. Unbeknownst to me they make gloves. At that school catchers and MIF could use others but everyone else had to use that glove.  

At son's future college Rawlings day is the highlight of the first couple weeks of each fall. 

I thought Adidas only made goalkeeping gloves.  Was just getting used to Nike making baseball gloves.  I guess just about anyone can make a glove (again, reverse engineer and hire someone who's been at it for 20 years) but not everybody can get their glove mass marketed.  Am I right in thinking that Wilson now owns Louisville Slugger including both bats and glove lines?

Saw the edit - what exactly is Rawlings day - does the rep show up with discounted gloves or are these now provided free just like spikes and apperal?

With most glove contracts, you can use a competing brand as long as the logo is not visible.  Many Easton teams did this in previous years because the Easton gloves were substandard.  Same with certain brands of cleats.  Some kids simply cannot wear them comfortably.

Yes, Wilson own Slugger now.

Manufacturer's Day is when the manufacturer's rep is on campus and product is demo'd and selected.

bolts - what I find unique about the Easton custom gloves is that, unlike Rawlings, Wilson and Mizuno, they are not available for sale to the general public.  Or am I missing something?

As redbird stated this is the day Rawlings comes to my son's future school.  Every player gets a new glove every fall.  Christmas in September for a baseball player.

In another thread, some folks talked about underclassmen going to the glove pile (donations by departing upperclassmen) to pick out their "new" glove for next season.  I'm betting none of these custom gloves end up in the pile.  I am curious as to just how many teams actually have glove contracts - I'm assuming it may be generally limited to conferences which have some significant TV exposure.

I do remember seeing where some manufacturers' reps come and provide discounted items (I believe Oakley was cited) - does anyone have any experience with access to discounted gloves at the lower levels?