Spencer Schubert’s feet can be found all over the snowboarding world. Most recently our screens, in The North Face team video: Blitz. Ride Snowboards has been giving Spencer pro-model colorway boots to celebrate his feet, and this year, it seemed a little more special. Limited edition, transparent injected plastic toe, eco-friendly packaging, and many other keywords were included in the description. I needed a breakdown because I don’t know much about boot tech, but I do know whatever boots Spenny is wearing work well. - Katie Kennedy
Let’s get a boot FUSE breakdown. What makes this one special?
I've done four FUSE colorways with Ride. Because this one is a limited release, we had more leeway in how we made it. I wanted to try something different. The Ride Fuse boot has an injected plastic toe box, tongue, and spine. We made the injected plastic clear with this boot. It's almost like you can see through the boot. Looking closely at the back panel, you can see the logo Reid made and little details like my name. But when you’re wearing them, it transforms into black. It's like a hidden message.
Whoa, you’re a boot scientist.
Boots are fun. Usually, you use clear plastic; it yellows over time and gets a little foggy. But we used this new seaweed bioplastic plastic, so that won’t happen. It’s way better for the environment. But it’s more expensive, so we went with a limited release. If it works well, Ride can start implementing that into other models. They’ve used it before but not to this scale.
You are an eco-friendly boot scientist. How do they ride?
I've been riding them for a year, and they work great. The FUSE is a traditional lace-up boot with an internal boa harness. I like conventional lace-ups because of their aesthetics. It's more like a shoe. I tie my boots tight cause I have a big foot, but my legs are really skinny. I get more precision with the traditional laces. I am built like a chicken: real skinny legs but big feet.
Well, you know what they say about FUSE BOOTS?
They probably say my mom drank too much wine while I was in the womb. Some things got big, and some things didn't.
Haha, that was good. Any other nerdy boot stuff you’d like to talk about?
First, the box this boot comes in can be shipped directly to the consumer. There’s not a boot box in a bigger box. You put the label right on them. The box doesn’t have any ink, so it's recyclable. We wanted to make the boot eco-friendly, and shipping is a big part of that. You know, I’m just an eco-friendly guy who goes back to my Bend, Oregon roots. Reid made the logo for it, so that’s special and cool.
How often are you in snowboard boots a year?
I’m going to go ahead and say north of 150. But that doesn’t mean I’m always snowboarding. I shovel a lot of snow in these boots. They are so warm. I won’t name names, but filmers who work for other companies ask me for the Fuse boot because it has a slim profile. They're not chunky, they’re warm, they’re comfortable. And for me, most importantly, because I’m really tall, I need a stiff boot. If you think of trees being tall, they need strong roots. These are my roots. I call them my root boots. Shoe, bird, roots, boots. If you like the traditional lace boot, this boot is perfect for anything from hitting rails to backcountry jumps or just a day at the resort. It’s high performance. But without the extra bells and whistles, it's a classic snowboard boot.
Well, thank you, Spencer. I learned about boots and your body type. I can’t wait to see your new colorway in the wild.
Learn more at ridesnowboards.com!
Learn more at ridesnowboards.com!
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