I’ll never forget my first pair of Xtratuf’s It was like Christmas and my Birthday all rolled into one.  For decades there has been nothing more ubiquitous to The Pacific Northwest than Xtratuf boots.

I loved them so much I was shooting an Xtratuf calendar, I wore them everywhere.  I don’t know a single fisherman who doesn’t  live in their Xtratuf’s.  My grand plan was to expose them to every sailor on the planet, their legendary nonskid and the toughness that gave them their name.

It was Christmas eve in my local chandler when I was sent into an absolute fit of turrets.   “Made in China WTF???” It was too late, I had promised Serena her first pair of Xtratufs and now all they had was this cheap Chinese  shit.

I’m sad to say that I will never purchase another pair of Xtratuf’s as they have moved the Manufacturing plant to China.  With a single google search I found dozens of articles and blogs online of the new boots falling apart in a matter of days or weeks.  Yes products made in China are cheap, they are cheap because they are trash.  Every great start up I know of has sold out to some huge corporation and the product has been destroyed.

As consumers were are the bottom line, if we keep buying this disposable crap it will only be a matter of time before our houses are nothing more than junk yards.

“There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man’s lawful prey.” 
~John Ruskin