Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
Fishe Wear is an Alaska apparel company making technical fly fishing clothing cut for women and printed with commissioned fish art. Founded around 2015 by a former trucking executive, it sells wading belts, leggings, neck tubes and layers, teaches beginner fly fishing classes out of Anchorage, and licenses its prints to larger outdoor brands.
Linda Leary is the founder and owner of Fishe Wear, the Anchorage-based women's fly fishing apparel company.
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What is Fishe Wear and who is it made for?
Fishe Wear is an Alaska-based apparel company making technical fishing clothing cut and sized for women, started around 2015 by a founder who came out of the trucking industry knowing nothing about clothes or manufacturing. The concept was mapped out on sticky notes and white sheets taped to an office wall with a photographer and marketing friend, and it landed on gear that fits, that works for the application, and that is deliberately loud. The trigger was a visit to a large fly shop where the entire women's section was one rounder, with the explanation that women want things that are fitted and colorful and no such product existed. About half of Fishe Wear's customers are men buying for the women in their lives.
Why does Fishe Wear put commissioned fish art on its clothing?
Fishe Wear works with a small group of artists, primarily women, one based in Alaska and a few in the Lower 48. The company sends an artist multiple reference photos of one specific fish species, gives a short list of parameters, and then lets the artist interpret it rather than art-directing the result. Graphic designers turn the finished pieces into repeatable prints. The best seller at the time of this conversation was a grayling pattern the company nicknamed the groovy grayling, and product names are crowdsourced through a family group text before going out to a wider circle of friends.
Which larger brands has Fishe Wear collaborated with?
Orvis carries Fishe Wear art on a sling bag, a hip pack and a rod case tied to the 50/50 On The Water program, and Fishe Wear produced its first film for the associated film tour. An Alaska rubber boot maker used Fishe Wear art inside and in the design of a boot that launched in fall 2019, and a silicone ring company, also founded in Alaska, puts the art on rings that sell to men as well as women. Fishe Wear also runs an ambassador and pro staff program, which the founder credits alongside those collaborations for the brand's visibility.
How does Fishe Wear teach women to fly fish?
Fishe Wear bought an Alaska business that had spent 30 years teaching women to fly fish, purchasing it from its founder when she retired and carrying on the instruction side under the Fishe Wear name. A beginner class covers the history of fly fishing, assembling a rod, what the different flies are, casting mechanics with an hour to 90 minutes actually casting in the field, safety, waders, boots and clothing, and how to hold and release a fish correctly. In 2020 the classroom portion moved online so people outside Alaska could take it, with small in-person casting groups in Anchorage. Fly tying classes run through the winter, and a teenage girls' summer camp of four afternoons across a month was added that year.
How does an Alaska clothing brand get into Lower 48 fly shops?
Fishe Wear sold through a handful of Alaska fly shops before signing a group of independent sales reps starting in fall 2019 and early 2020. The pandemic slowdown gave the company time to get those reps trained and up to speed before selling season, and Fishe Wear reworked product margins and pricing so the numbers work for a shop buying at wholesale. Fishe Wear also operates a brick-and-mortar store in Anchorage and publishes its full retailer list online, with the strongest concentration in the Rockies and the Northwest.
Why is Fishe Wear looking at the bass fishing market?
Fishe Wear brought on an ambassador who fishes bass, mostly with conventional gear, and the founder was in the research stage of understanding that market. The argument is the same one that started the company: a woman who is dressed for the job she is doing is more confident and performs better, and bass anglers have largely been offered a scaled-down version of what the men wear rather than technical clothing designed for them. Fishe Wear was also deliberately looking outside fly fishing for non-traditional collaborations that fit the product line.
What did 2020 do to Alaska's fishing tourism?
Alaska stayed open for business in summer 2020 but required a negative test before arrival, a second test on arrival, or a 14-day quarantine. Most Alaska tourism businesses were down roughly 90 percent. For lodges, 70 percent or more of clients typically come from the Lower 48 or Europe, so many simply did not open, and those that did focused on Alaska residents or travelers able to take an extended trip and meet the quarantine requirements. Some villages closed to outside visitors entirely. The one upside noted was reduced pressure on the fish.
Key takeaways
- Fishe Wear designs technical fishing apparel cut for women rather than downsized from men's patterns, and sells to men as often as to women.
- The brand's prints come from commissioned artists who are given reference photos of one species and left to interpret it, then adapted by graphic designers.
- A grayling print was the company's best-selling design at the time of this conversation.
- Fishe Wear acquired a 30-year-old Alaska women's fly fishing school and continues to run beginner classes covering rigging, casting, safety, gear and fish handling.
- Independent sales reps, hired in late 2019 and early 2020, are how an Anchorage brand reaches fly shops in the Rockies and Northwest.
- In 2020 Alaska required testing or a 14-day quarantine on arrival, and most tourism businesses in the state were down about 90 percent.
