The Cobbler's Son...

The old adage is that the cobbler's son has no shoes. What about the footwear developer? I take more shoes to the thrift store than many people will ever own in their lives. I used to have giant bins of every shoe I've ever worked on. Before the big move I cut it down to only the significant stuff - like successes (Tech Amphib), learning experiences (PI Octane), and weird stuff (a Salomon Creek Boating boot) and only in half pairs.

Footwear procurement for me breaks down into three categories: the crap that doesn't fit me but I wear because it's free or because I need to fly the brand flag; the stuff that fits but was miraculously still free and has the right logo on it to allow me from getting hassled at trade shows (Chaco Flips and PI Seeks); and the hard hard earned stuff that I've banged my head against the wall for - tele and AT boots with liners that have been baked two times to take the shape of my foot, Sidi Dominators that have stretched and molded to my feet through hundreds of creek crossings, Classic Nordic boots that can only be found on obscure websites. You see, I have a weird foot. The majority of footwear developers come into the profession through involvement in wear testing networks - you have a nice, sample size foot, you test for a company, get to know them, and work your way up. That was the route for me as well, except that I don't have the perfect sample size foot. The width of my foot is ridiculously disproportionate to the length, leaving me with few options. Ski boots work because of the moldable liners. Sidi offers an extra wide version of the Dominator (the Mega), and PI used to have a couple of sloppy-wide cycling shoes (of which I snapped up multiple pairs that are sitting in my storage unit waiting for the inevitable delamination or crash-induced failure of my current pairs). My latest interest is skate skiing and it's proving to be a massive challenge. Not only is it technique intensive and favorable to fast-twitch skinny guys with big watches (I'm the only "husky" guy I know who skate skis), it has some serious footwear challenges. The paradigm is that a tight fit equals performance. There are also very limited options for outsoles. Salomon has a couple of sole units that they use or license and Rotefella offers a few New Nordic Norm outsoles. The shape and the width of the outsole limit what you can do with fit, flex and performance. Most companies use a stock Salomon or NNN sole because it costs too much to open their own molds. There is just not enough money in Nordic skiing to work in the cost of a unique outsole - and the outsole has to be compatible with one of two bindings. The Nordic ski market is driven by European brands and end users; Euros wear their shoes tight (if you're interested I can share stats and anecdotal feedback from measuring US feet and Euro feet and comparing the measured size to the size that people actually buy) - so that tight fit doesn't translate well to the typical US end user or someone who values comfort and performance. Salomon is offering heat moldable foam in their boots, taking a cue from moldable alpine and tele liners, giving a slight nod to the US market and the broader trend toward comfort. I'll let you know how it works out as soon as I take a hair dryer to mine.