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There are many, many great things about skiing in Japan, but one thing many visitors notice are the bright orange boots worn by employees of the lift company at the country’s most famous resort, Niseko.
These humble boots tend to catch in a world of white powder and seeing them every day can have a strange effect on a person.
Well at least it did on Kalle Norman, a young Swedish man who did what many powder crazy skiers and boarders do and headed out to Hokkaido, the northerly Japanese Island where Niseko and 100 more less famous ski areas are located.
Kalle recalls that it was on a stormy day while skiing deep powder, that he first became aware of the unique, unbranded, waterproof winter boots that all the lifties and locals were wearing.
It was love at first sight and Kalle returned to Stockholm with several pairs of the brightly coloured boots which immediately drew attention to him, not only among his mountain cabin neighbours, but also at the university he later came to attend. Once the demand had grown large enough, Kalle felt an obligation to try and track down the Japanese manufacturer.
After a few emails back and forth with the small store from which he had bought his own pairs, he managed to get hold of the factory and initiated a dialogue. A couple months later, 100 pairs of imported Japanese winter boots arrived in Sweden. The large order was immediately popular with everyone except Kalle’s girlfriend who was sharing a cramped student apartment with him at the time.
Having sold this batch, Kalle enlisted the help of his friend since childhood, now business partner, Christofer Ljunggren, who saw the potential of more than just the import and sale of the existing boots. So it was that the FUBUKI™ boot brand was born (it’s the Japanese word for ‘snowstorm’), complete with an adorable penguin logo.
The mantra the pair was working to was that: “Durable, warm, waterproof boots should not be boring nor heavy.”
Kalle and Christofer sought to perfect the ultra-lightweight boot, adding a thermal inner, drawstring tie to stop the powder falling in and going from the “just orange and black” option to a full rainbow of colours.
Their timing was not great, however. Starting the engine in 2019, they were first hit with the news that the Japanese factory they were aiming to contract had been flooded in a typhoon and more or less shut down, at least for the time being. Thankfully, Kalle and Christofer managed to secure the boot designs, tweak them to their own specifications and find a new manufacturer to construct the boots exactly how they wanted them, true FUBUKI-branded boots at last.
All good? So they thought, then the pandemic came. Another piece of bad luck. At the same time as the newly started company were trying to deal with the consequences of the pandemic (“global supply chain issues”), the boots were becoming something of a sleeper hit with mountain communities and some famous names in the skiing world getting some of the early pairs and stimulating further demand.
The first production run in 2019 was for 1,100 pairs and by 2021, despite all those outside factors, production had grown to 10,000 pairs, a number which doubled again in 2022.
The boots have been a big hit across Europe and pairs have even made it back to Japan. Despite its success though, Kalle and Christofer, still in their 20s, are still handling all aspects of the company.
Production has doubled again and today FUBUKI is sold in more than 120 stores across 13 countries but Kalle and Christofer say they are in it primarily to stay connected to mountain communities and outside the corporate world. They are, they say, simply skiers at heart and their brightly coloured boots help them to continue living the dream.
or the latest snow forecast and updates on where is best to ski now, as well as ski news, gear reviews and resort spotlights, you can check out our regular podcast here Apple | Spotify | Podcasts or search The White Out on your chosen podcast directory.
