Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher DeVore.
Hi Christopher, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Anchorage, AK playing hockey outdoors plenty as a kid. Nearly every elementary school had an outdoor rink and there were plenty of city-funded places to skate. I remember my childhood playing hockey for hours and thawing out my hands/feet under the heaters in my parents minivan.
Fast forward a decade and I was in the business school at the University of Maryland. I had just kickstarted a small camping business with the help of their entrepreneurship program (and Kickstarter) and I would get manufacturers reaching out telling me they could make my camping product. One day I had a manufacturer say we can make camping gear, sporting goods, hockey gear- and my ears perked up. I said, “hey I’ve had this other idea for years, think you can do it?”
A couple of months later I have my first small batch of outdoor hockey gloves and I put them online. And by small batch, I mean just 25 pairs. There was a little traction online and then after a couple of weeks somehow Gear Patrol found me and shared my new business Third Assist on New Years Day 2014 (timely with the winter classic too). After that, I was in business. The camping business slowly dialed down, but the new hockey business grew.
Now 8 years later this is still a “craft hockey business” but we offer outdoor and vintage hockey gloves, state sweaters, custom engraved wood sticks, and are continuing to branch out into new products with the goal to make functional, unique gear and gifts no one else is making.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The two biggest challenges have been seasonality and side hustling.
1) Hockey is primarily a winter sport, but especially pond hockey. So figuring out marketing, inventory, product development, etc. is mostly on a one-year cycle. It’s good and it’s bad. You can depend on the season every year, but you only get one shot per year to test new products or ideas.
2) Being seasonal, this isn’t a full time job. Full time I am actually a government wildlife biologist. You might see love of the outdoors + love of hockey = Third Assist. If every month had traffic like Nov-Feb then it could be full-time, but at the same time, I don’t hate that it’s only a side hustle. It gives me way more flexibility and allows me to operate in a more positive manner. Every transaction and interaction with a customer isn’t life or death, and it’s easier to do the right thing if finances aren’t the #1 driver whereas they might be the highest/higher priority if Third Assist was how I paid my bills.
We’ve been impressed with Third Assist, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Third Assist is a small hockey business that specializes in outdoor and vintage hockey gear. We try to produce useful and cool hockey gear that no other company is making. We don’t aim to compete with the big players like Bauer, Easton, etc. but to operate in a niche of pond hockey and historic hockey enthusiasts. We’re most proud of our customer service; although we try to be efficient in our processes, customer service isn’t about automation or speed, and we always enjoy making connections with our customers.
I heard a year or two back about Jake Burton looking at Burton Snowboards as the confluence of art and sport. We really like that mantra and try to have our products reflect this. They’re all pretty unique- when you start with wool lined hockey gloves you’ve already broken the “different” barrier- and any future products will fall into this line as well.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Outreach. Our outreach has ebbed and flowed. For the first couple of years, everything was word of mouth esp. as our inventory was limited. Over the last 2-3 years we’ve made more of an effort to get the name of Third Assist out there. It seems that once most people find and interact with the business, it’s a positive experience and one of the coolest aspects is getting people to share their ideas of how we can improve or what we can explore. We’re super flexible so always game to explore new ideas if it’s possible. That flexibility and lack of constraints on what may be “traditional” hockey gear leave a lot of room for creativity.
Pricing:
- All products range from 59USD to 139USD
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thirdassist.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/thirdassist
- Facebook: facebook.com/thirdassist
- Youtube: youtube.com/thirdassist
- Other: https://g.page/r/CUtLs1Zvfi89EAI/review
