Fly Blog

by Mark Waldin, Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods - I spoke with a major fly rod manufacturing company a week or two ago about where they are going and what they are doing to improve the company.  One of the things they are looking at doing is putting a major push on branded apparel.  Branded apparel is a huge market but it is also a fashion market.  There is a lot of road kill in this market, such as Eddie Bauer.  I think they are looking at brands like Under Armour and Nike and thinking that if they can turn their brand into a ‘have to have’ for a certain demographic, then they will rake in the cash. My assumption is that they will want to leverage their position among fly fishing enthusiasts and extend the brand to people that associate with that life style, whether they fish or not.

This leaves a lot of interesting and odd questions:

•   is there a apparel style that fits fishermen?
•   are fly fishermen all cut from the same cloth?
•   will going after apparel damage their fly rod  brand?
•   will a focus on apparel impact the quality of their fly rods?

I’m not so sure that fly fishermen can be so easily classified into a group of people that fit into a certain style.  My guess is they would be going after the backwoods, log cabin kind of feel like LL Bean.  I’m not certain there is space in the market for another LL Bean either.   Plus, my experience with fly fishermen is they’d rather save their money for the next great piece of fly equipment and tackle than put it into a new outdoor triple cord, nylon wrapped, fibrecore enhanced vest with zip in hood, velcro sleeve guards, and double stitched grommet enforced cell phone holder.

What is your take?  Do we need another super brand like Nike?  And can you build it off of a fly rod brand?  Let me know.