Naataq Gear owner Alice Bioff visits with a friend who came to see her booth at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention on Thursday, Oct. 17, in Anchorage. Her modern-inspired kuspuks have been very popular.
in Alaska for generations. “We see that there’s a need for that. People are so excited to see this garment.” “It’s water resistant, windproof, and breathable,” Bioff said, ducked into an alcove not far from her booth at the Alaska Federation of Natives craft fair in downtown Anchorage.Even early in the morning, before the conference’s officially scheduled start, she was seeing a brisk flow of customers, pulling red, purple and black atikluks off a densely packed rack to try them on before a full-length mirror.
Within a few years, she’d developed a prototype and connected with a company based in St. Paul, Minnesota, that could manufacture it with the performance materials she knew would be critical for the coats to be more than just fashionable, but functional for real rural Alaska living.Though she sees the atikluks as artful, they are not regalia. Bioff wants them to be worn as people pick berries on the tundra, skiff out to check a salmon net or drive a four-wheeler to pick kids up at school.
And it worked. Naataq gear is not inexpensive. The higher-end models sell online for $200 or $300 apiece. But sell they did. And the next year, Bioff paid her brother back in full.Bioff helps customers at her booth on Thursday.