XTRATUFs downgraded to moderately tufs

Boxes of XTRATUF on a shelf at Redden in 
Cordova, Alaska, where the store manager 
says she has had many complaints since 
manufacturers moved  plant to China
 in late 2011. 
Diane Jeantet/The Cordova Times

A couple of years ago when I went sailing in the North Pacific on the brigantine Kai Sei, I had to buy a pair of XTRATUF boots because both pairs I owned were at the East Pole and I didn't have time to race in there and get them.  I thought that might have been a frivolous purchase, but today I am so glad I did.

For those who don't know about them, they are the boot of choice for most Alaska fisherman, for one reason because they actually are extra tough.  Go to any port on the Alaska coast and you will see probably one out of every two people wearing the ubiquitous brown boots with the yellowish bulbous toe. They are so common in rainy Southeastern Alaska, they are called Ketchikan sneakers.

The two pairs I have at the cabin date back to the 80s.  Granted I didn't give them the workout most fishermen do, but how many articles of clothing from the 80s does anyone still have and use?

The reason for happiness about the purchase is that last year the company moved its manufacturing to China and most boots purchased since Christmas last year were made there.  Already only halfway through the fishing season, owners of the new boots are complaining and trying to return them because it turns out the Chinese versions are just not as tough.  This isn't just abut shipping jobs overseas,  it is also about ruining one of the few products at least Alaskans regard almost with reverence.

This is a betrayal of the worst order. There are a few things people should know not to mess with where Alaskans are involved.  If the quality of Carhartt work clothing deteriorates, I would expect open revolution.  XTRATUF boots fall into that same category.  Nobody wants a split rubber boot on the wet, slippery deck of a salmon seiner in Prince William Sound or in the icy freezing water on the deck of a crab boat in the Bering Sea, or when slogging along a muddy trail to the East Pole either.

Those boots I bought a couple of years ago and barely used are among the last manufactured in the USA.  So now I have three functional pairs and those should last the rest of my life.  Unless .....

Hey, I suddenly have a valuable commodity, I could sell one pair.

Can you see the Craigslist ad?   USA made XTRATUFS:  Like new. Size 11.  Only worn on one three-week voyage in the Pacific.  $540,000 OBO.

Original story in the Cordova Times.