For 25 years, Ray Fougere, with his small business Booster Strap, has been servicing skiers of all styles, abilities and disciplines—an after-market solution for boot-fit and control issues that no other brand has seemed to figure out how to replicate since Booster Strap first launched in 1999.
When it comes to ski boots, we want them to fit tight and snug, similar to a sock, but we don’t ever want to lose feeling or circulation to our feet and lower legs. Sizing down in boots or clamping down your buckles as tight as you can get them may seem like the answer, but Fougere’s Aerospace engineering education and over two decades of experience as a ski racing coach helped the entrepreneur figure out there’s actually a much better and more effective way to “batten down the hatches,” so to speak.
“[Booster Strap] increases the performance of the boot and the mechanics of the boot,” Fougere explains. “It allows the user to ski more like ski theory—applying pressure and things like that—where it tightens the upper cuff so you get good contact with your lower leg. Anytime your lower leg starts to move forward, like at the start of your turn, you get an instant response from your skis, there’s no lag.”
What sets the Booster Strap apart from most other straps that come standard on boots? One word: elastic. It is pretty much impossible for boot manufacturers to create a custom-fitting boot on a worldwide scale, but Booster Strap’s use of elastic allows the user to cinch the strap tight to the boot—tighter than any velcro strap can go—which, ultimately, increases performance and decreases discomforts like shin bang.
Need more proof in the pudding? Since the brand’s inception in the late 90s, Booster Strap has sold over 350,000 units, which Fougere equates to about 300,000 skiers currently using his invention in 2024. From 80 percent of Olympic-level skiers all the way down to recreational resort riders, park skiers and even backcountry enthusiasts, Booster Strap has become the after-market-strap-of-choice for skiers worldwide.
“Every pair of boots will benefit from Booster Strap because you can’t get a good tight fit with plastic and the way the buckling is on boots without either killing your shins or making the boot too stiff,” says Fougere. “You can actually ski with a looser top buckle if you have a tight Booster Strap.”
The very first Booster Strap was manufactured in Fougere’s kitchen over two decades ago, and despite the brand’s major success in the industry, Fougere has kept the business small. Just himself and two others who make and ship the straps, Booster Strap is a USA-born and raised small business that continues to do all of its manufacturing in Rhode Island, where Fougere is based. What’s even better? Ninety percent of the parts used in making a Booster Strap are also USA-made—a rarity these days, especially in the ski industry—and after a decade of using one pair of Booster Straps, I can personally attest to the lifespan of the product.
Whether you’re an ex-ski racer, a park rat or a skintrack slogger, Booster Strap is here to serve every skier a product that not only makes skiing more fun and comfortable, it also increases performance without much input from the user. So do yourself a favor this season, ditch the stock strap on your ski boots and feel the difference of Booster Strap.
