“Are You Still Lacing While Others Are Racing?” That was the advertising slogan Henke used to tout their buckle ski boots versus the traditional laced ski boots of the era. In 1955 Henke was the first to produce buckle ski boots.

In 1954 Hans Martin, a Swiss bike racer and stunt pilot, obtained a patent on a “Ski Boot Lacing System” that involved “lace loops” and “tensioning means”. You won’t find the word ‘buckle’ anywhere in the patent (you can view the original patent online.)  A Czechoslovakian contributor to my blog points out that the wording was intentional to maintain the uniqueness of the system. Other patents already mentioned boots and buckles so there could have been a chance of prior discovery. Anyway, think of the “lace loops” as the bails and the “tensioning means” as the buckles. Henke, a Swiss company, bought the rights to the patent from Martin.

Of course in 1955 we were talking leather ski boots and the trick was to get them tight enough. As the leather aged from use, you’d have to tighten the laces more. Most good laced boots had at least two sets of laces to contend with: an inner boot with a speed lace and the outer boot. Putting the boots on took time and adjusting them to the desired tightness was often trial-and-error. Tightening or loosening a boot certainly wasn’t something you did outdoors on a cold day! With buckles you could simply loosen them for the ride up the lift and tighten them for the run down. In fact that was one of the advantages mentioned in the original patent.

Despite the advantages of buckles, buckle boots didn’t catch on! Racers were suspicious and ski shops were hesitant. Skiing historian Seth Masia says that Henke sales reps would get laughed at when they mentioned a buckle ski boot. Buckles and boots drew up the connotation of galoshes and “Who would want to wear galoshes to ski?”

In the early 1960s Henke would license other boot manufacturers to use their patented process and buckle boots began to catch on.  The “year of the buckle boot” would be 1963, according to my Czechoslovakian source. By then Henke was the number one ski boot producer in the world!

Interestingly, Bob Lange made his first plastic boot prototypes using laces, but realized that he needed the mechanical advantage of buckles to tighten the stiffer plastic boots.  Lange launched the beginning of the plastic boot era in 1965. Unlike buckles, plastic boots would quickly gain acceptance and proliferate. Soon there were no laces only buckles.

But if you’ve visited your local ski boot shops lately, you’ll see that laces are back. No not the old laces you tied and tightened by hand, but a lacing “system that uses micro-adjustable dials, steel laces, and low-friction guides for a precise fit.” Of course I’m taking about the BOA® Fit System.

The name and the idea come from the boa constrictor who wraps its prey up and applies even pressure to crush it. But the key words in that sentence for ski boot design are “even pressure.”

Gary Hammerslag first applied the idea in a start-up medical products company he founded. In his words, “It was a miniature mechanical technology that we originally put in coronary guide wires, which would be used with angioplasty.” He would sell that company and take up snowboarding!

Snowboard boots had a lacing problem akin to the old leather ski boots. Hammerslag designed a lacing system with metal laces and one dial that would tighten or loosen them. In 2001, K2 and Vans launched the first BOA-equipped snowboard boots. The success of those products led to applying the technology to other sports equipment. By 2005 there were cycling, golf, and hiking shoes using BOA Technology.

The first ski boots to use the technology were some ultralight backcountry boots. Much like buckle boots, the traditional ski boot companies were slow to try the new technology. First, some tried the BOA system on just the lower boot. OK, but were those buckles really the problem? Now we’re seeing boots with upper and lower BOA systems.

I haven’t seen many of them on the slopes so I think they need a catchy slogan like Henke had. Here’s my candidate: “Are you still buckling while others are chuckling?”

Feel free to post your suggestions in the Comments!!