The simple joy of BRANDS

Last month I posted on a pair of boots I bought - Icebug Crawlers, to be precise. In the comments I was warned about the "slippery slope" of product placement and lo-and-behold, someone from Icebug found the post and cheerfully thanked me for the product placement. I laughed, and remained pleased with my purchase.

But this morning I took the opportunity to contact the Icebug rep and give my two cents worth on my new boots:

1. excellent ankle support, warmth and traction on snow (and contrary to what my sweetie thinks, they look great!)
2. inflexible footbed (I had to add insoles and arch support) and almost no traction on ice

And I got a prompt response:

Many thanks for your valuable thoughts. I have forwarded them to the design department (read: my aunt). We are a small family company in Gothenburg, Sweden and we introduced the brand three years ago, mainly to solve the slipping problem during winter. Therefore it's a bit ironic that you chose our City Crawler line as it's our only product line without anti-slipping technology ("smart" steel studs that disappear into the sole on hard surfaces like stone and asphalt but gripping un soft surfaces like snow, ice, mud etc). For severe winter conditions we recommend our WinterTrek boots, for "serious" walking our NordicWalk line and for winter and/or trail running our MultiRun shoes. These lines all come with our guaranteed non-slipping BUGrip sole.

(While it would normally be fair to say that my fashion sense prevents me from buying boots that don't slip on ice, the truth is that the ones I bought were the only Icebug boots in the store. Figures.)

But right on! I'm pleased to support a "small family company" - especially when they make something as important as good winter boots! I don't expect people who don't live in places without ice and snow for half the year to understand, but trust me when I say that when you find good (or bad) boots here you tell everyone you know. "Slippery slope" be damned! I like my Icebug boots!

And Lalya - I have to ask if you know these nice Icebug people? Göteborg can't be that big, and it's not like asking if you know "This guy I know who lives in Canada" ;)