I guess I (and we) could be wrong. Not the first time. But.... From what I understand (and have been told repeatedly by folks in the Industry, including bootfitters), the original Surefoot guy (forgot his name and location) was a bootfitter with ambition: he wanted to franchise or set up a chain of custom fit ski boot shops. His problem was that even his one business bottle-necked with him (the skilled fitter): other folks he hired and trained over years usually quit if and when they gained the experience and knowledge to go out on their own, or work elsewhere.
As I understand it, what the original guy wanted was a way to duplicate and franchise what he did without having to have and maintain a skilled and experienced bootfitter(s) at every outlet. The system he came up with was to put customers into boots that were not tight fits (which would usually require extensive boot knowledge and some punching and grinding by someone with the requisite skills and experience), and make up for the often too large size by foaming it. That way, custom foaming in a slightly larger size would make up for the lack of skills and detailed knowledge, and he could escape the bottleneck problem to create a chain of profitable stores. He could then hire less experienced (lower paid) folk for his franchises/outlets, and not have them bottleneck or fail because of a lack of a steady, real bootfitter or two at each outlet. I'd guess that sometimes this formula would work out for folks just fine, depending on their feet and needs.
The formula sort of worked, apparently, but I'm told it mostly included locating the successful outlets at ski resorts catering to a good percentage of destination, well-to-do but out of town skiers. That way, people would overpay and be gone within a week or so, not enough time to be bothered by a comfort fit that over time would lack performance, for many.
To summarize, the formula, I was told, was to used boots large enough to not require a real bootfitter's skills, and compensate for that with foaming, and out of town customers.
This explanation came from folks I trust, and accounted for my one, extended experience with Surefoot: expensive and a mistake, for me. "A-ha, so that was what was going on," I realized, once I was told about it. (Confirmed by others in the Biz.)
Since then, I've found several real bootfitters, including at a shop that handles race boots and consumer race boots, which works for me.
