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OPINION: Et tu, brute?

August 3rd 2:38 pm | Carey Restino Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

When I first started writing in Alaska, there were two words I had to pencil into the stylebook that served as my pillow on late-night writing benders much like this one.

One was Duck Tape, or duct tape. The other was Xtratuf. I've written stories about people painting these boots for a fund raiser, seen people wear their boots until they literally fall off their feet, and been able to identify those fresh off the plane by the shiny nature of their brown-and-tan footwear, and the fact that they had yet to put their name on them. I've had parties where there were dozens of these pairs of boots in my hallway. Xtratufs

you just can't write about Alaska without writing about these boots.

But now, the word on the street is the quality is not quite what it used to be. People are returning the boots to stores all over Alaska, newspapers report. Apparently, Xtratuf is Notsotuf. A move to stop producing the boots in the United States backfired, Xtratuf managers say, when they failed to train their workers in the finer art of making the boots arguably one of the toughest places in the world depend on to get them through no small amount of snow, slush and sea water.

Oops.

I was in a chain store the other day looking at the myriad of inexpensive offerings, wondering at the low, low prices. But every item I picked up was light and cheap and just not built to withstand the world we live in here, where clothes have to get washed a lot because of all the dirt and grime and salmon scales ground into them. Not even the socks looked like they could make it. The waders I bought there for $50 lasted exactly one wading.

Maybe some entrepreneurial Alaskan could create their own Xtratuf boot. They could call the company The Last Footier, perhaps? (I have to give credit where it's due - that gem came from reporter Hannah Heimbuch.) Maybe the outside world just doesn't get the need we have for stuff that really tolerates a beating? And hey, while they are at it, maybe they can figure out a way to get those boots on and off without yoga-like dexterity.

Or we could create a "Alaska Tough" certification - a brand that shows that Alaskans have tested and approved of the product in question. Want to sell wool socks in the Last Frontier? Better make 'em good. Extra wool in the heel, please. Got a raincoat you want to sell us? That zipper better not fail in the first major storm, or you'll be off the list!

Seriously, though. There is all this energy being put toward creating new jobs and promoting economic growth. Especially with the looming election, there's a lot of talk out there about how to boost this country's fate.

How 'bout a little focus on quality instead of cheap. Cheap is just what it sounds like - cheap. I sympathize with the plight of companies like Xtratuf - they compete in a global economy and while quality is important to consumers, people will only pay so much more for it.

Maybe instead of requiring the company to move its operations back to the U.S., they could do something like Taco Bell did when a the rumor mill excited one Alaska village prematurely with news of its impending arrival.

Xtratuf could hold a big boot give-away, follow the recipients for a month or two, prove to Alaskans that their boots are all better now. If they could do that in the next week or two that would be great because both my pairs have holes in them.

 


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