Are the Duck Boots and Water Shortages Signs of the End of Days?

Duck boots
Duck boots Photo: Shiho Fukada/Bloomberg/Getty Images

You may have heard about this little thing called a drought going on in the great big state of California. While we New Yorkers taunt our West Coast cousins by letting our taps flow free with all that delicious NYC water, taking showers longer than the entire series of Planet Earth combined, it looks like a little retribution is headed our way. Is this the end of times?

L.L. Bean, the late fall/early winter brand du jour for protective footwear, had a problem manufacturing enough of their signature duck boots to meet the demand last winter, throwing hundreds of thousands of East Coasters into a wet-footed tailspin. Now we’ve learned from Bloomberg that the shortage may carry over to this winter as well. The report says that “some styles and sizes of Bean’s duck boots are already on back order,” while Mac McKeever, a spokesman for the company, says that the Maine-based business is “making them literally as fast we can” because “it’s not something we can just stamp out.”

The Bean will also never outsource its manufacturing because, like many heritage brands, the flavor of Maine is built right into the rubber. McKeever added, “The boots have been hand-sewn in Maine by our own skilled boot workers, and they always will be.”

No water in California. No duck boots on the East Coast. What’s next? Oh, and don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Duck Boots and Water Shortage: End of Days?