Now that the ball is right, Franklin is refining its line
of paddles for players. “Every pickleball player is very
opinionated about their paddle, and there’s no clear-cut
XYZ formula to follow for perfection,” Franklin says.
“We have three paddles made of different materials
and a fourth polymer paddle that took more time to
develop. Players respond and provide critical feedback
Franklin melds baseball and
pickleball at Fenway Park with
gloves, X-40 balls and the Red Sox
World Series trophies.
for us. The pickleball community likes what they like,
and they don’t like what they don’t like. Most will tell
you right away, and we appreciate that.”
Franklin also monitors feedback online and has
partnered with Aspen Kern, who runs a Facebook
pickleball group, so that the company can stay in the
loop on the sport and player opinions. It has also
sponsored Kern, who is the first pickleball professional
on its roster, and hopes to grow the brand with even
more professional sponsorships. Kern will have a full
line of Franklin products in the upcoming months.
That line, along with everything else Franklin offers
in its pickleball catalog, will be hitting more store
shelves this year. In addition to Walmart, Franklin
Sports is slated to be the first pickleball equipment
provider in Target, with end-cap displays to be tested
in 100 stores. If successful, Franklin Sports pickleball
equipment will become a permanent fixture in Target’s
domain.
Franklin says he hopes the additional exposure grows
the sport even more. “Since our bread and butter is
working with big-box retailers, by the end of 2018,
we’ll be in more than 4,000 retail stores in the U.S. and
Canada,” he says. "We want to put pickleball into as
many stores as possible.” •
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