It was in 1856 when Charles F. Orvis started the Orvis Company in Manchester, Vermont. Orvis is the oldest mail-order American company and one of the longest operating fly fishing suppliers in the industry. For over a century Orvis was the face of fly fishing and its brand was targeted to the gentlemen and well- off fly fisher. In 1965 the Perkins family took over the reigns at Orvis and today the business is run by the third generation Perkins, Simon, who is the President.
Not only has Orvis known for it's rods, from the finest bamboo to the latest Helios, but reels from the Battenkill to the Mirage, waders, from not so good entry level to the PRO line of today, but bird hunting gear as well, and from clothing to dog beds.

I'm an Orvis guy through and through. It was the company that drew me in when I started fly fishing in the early 1990's. I couldn't wait for the catalogs to come out, see their booths at the shows, and visit the stores, including the Mother Ship in Sunderland, Vermont. While their price point was catered to the upper tier of society, the investment in Orvis products was always worth the wait.
I always felt like I was part of a family, and at times, part of group of people that represented the best in fly fishing. I would go on to become an Orvis Endorsed Guide and have enjoyed a loose professional relationship with the company. I still write the Jersey Shore fishing reports for them, although it has become spotty at best.
When I started guiding Orvis, well the store managers really, were very good to me. Guys like Rob Ceccarini or Andrew Hamilton would invite me to do presentations in the Manhattan, Marlton, Haverford, and Princeton stores. I'd also help out at some of their Orvis 101, 201 and 301 classes. It was a give and take relationship and I think I represented Orvis well.
But then things changed. It was all around the time I hung out and worked at The Fly Hatch. Choinard saw the writing on the wall. I remember when The Fly Hatch moved to Shrewsbury, in that sweet log cabin fly shop, and then Orvis opened a company store down the street at The Grove in Shrewsbury. But it wasn't Orvis, per se, that was the problem, although I always felt that was a douchy move on their part. It was the internet, even back then, that killed the radio star. And since then, say the late 1990's, when things only got worse. The fly shops closed. Customer loyalty faded. And the big guns in the industry were faced with changing customer trends, increased competition, an uptick in costs, and the way people purchased things.

I watched as Orvis lost, in my opinion, their base. Yes, it was a customer base of upper crusty rich white guys...but that's who paid the bills. They tried to stay current, catalogues with pictures of guides tossing PBR's between the boats on the river, the whole trucker hat phase, camo and bright colors on their gear bags and sling packs, and better representation of different cultures and sexes. Then they got heavily vocal in things like 50/50 On the Water and the whole, which people described, as the going woke thing. What that did was just lose a portion of their base and cater to a customer that yeah, was current and hip, but not buying, at then $700 rods, expensive trips, and fancy dog beds.
They went and opened the Guide Program to any guide out there. They didn't care if you were Endorsed or not. Their thinking was, and I was at the Guide Rendezvous's when they explained it, it was better to have the rods and reels and waders in the guides hands, even though they had Scott rods, Simms waders, and Hatch reels in their boats.When I guided I looked like I belonged on an Orvis catalogue cover, pretty much outfitted from head to foot, like a big goof.
So last fall the hammer dropped when Orvis laid off 8% of its workforce and started to make changes. They put the compound in Sunderland up for sale, closed some stores, stopped
mailing the catalouge, and started to rethink about some of the lines they were offering their customers. The Orvis blog, which was always in the top 5 was without its leader, and over the year there have been just a handful of posts. Today they come in as the 42nd best fly fishing
blog in the world, with yours truly now sitting at number 31. While every person who lost their job mattered, they laid off some of their brightest and best they had. Over the course of the year it has been reported that more changes were coming, and they weren't looking good. In June of this year business industry reports started to learn that there would be another round of cuts possibly occurring. Well, yesterday the ball dropped.
The earlier reports were true. Orvis is slated to close nearly 20 stores, from Boston to Philadelphia and beyond, all of it's outlets, and lay off tons of employees from retail store workers, to fishing and store mangers, and all people in between. Early reasons, maybe some of convience, were the looming tariffs, and the impact it would have since most of the companies stuff from the clothes to the flies to the gear are made overseas in countries like China, Vietnam, and India.
On the cutting block is Orvis Princeton. New Jersey's lone Orvis company store. There used to be more stores and outlets in the Garden State but by the beginning of next year no longer. And that hurts. Now I didn't go to Orvis that often, but I ALWAYS knew it was there. And since I was an Orvis guy it worked for me. I had two great resources in Bruce the fly fishing and Andrew the store managers.
They offered good advice on local fishing, all of the Orvis products, and would entertain us from time time with great presentations and classes.
So when I heard the news today it was a gut punch. I was mad. I didn't know if I was mad at Orvis or mad at us. You see, we, the customers, are part of the problem. Cheap ass non-loyal customers, well at least most of us. Some are die-hards and loyal, and most importantly spend their money returning it to a company that really gave us a lot over the years.
I guess it's capitalism at its best. Over the years we've seen new start-ups from rod and reel companies to everything in between. Flies are available everywhere and just about everyone makes what everyone else makes. Companies are scrambling for money that we aren't spending, and to be honest, who really needs to spend it? If your waders don't leak and your rod and reel can cast and bring in a fish do you ned to spend big money each year? Maybe a new shirt, a pair of pants, or a jacket? But if you're like me then you'll wait till Costco is blowing them out cheaper then Orvis can make them.
In 2022 I wrote about a trip to Costco,
HERE. I found a "Tech" shirt for the fantastic price of $11.99, which was $3 off the "regular" price. Now that shirt was originally $89 and then
offered on their website for $37.38. I know companies sell like stupid bulk items to Costco for pennies on the dollar but it all tells us something. There's a pretty big original margin
on items that are produced overseas by cheaper labor. But wait, it was the tariffs that got us to this point. Yeah, I don't think so. Orvis, you just fucked up.
So what does this all mean? To me, it's the beginning of the end. While a part of me understands that their base has aged out and the market share is a younger angler, they have missed the boat, well this generation can't afford boats, or trips to exotic lands to boot. And I do understand the costs of doing business are challenging, and changes need to be made to remain a sustainable and profitable company, but at what cost? You see, eventually Orvis will be sold off, only to join a larger outdoors conglomerate that has no identity. Who would have thought Simms would sell?
Simon Perkins stated in an interview, "Our goal is simple: another 170 years as a family owned, purpose driven brand...committed to providing long-lasting value to our customers, our employees, our partners, and the natural world" he said, "To reach this goal, we need to bae adjustments within our company that will untether us from aspects of a historical model that served Orvis well in the past but need to evolve to move us forward".
My heart goes out to those members of the Orvis family who will soon lose their jobs, and for some, their identity. Some have been part of the company for decades and will now have to pick up the pieces and find a job in an industry which is primarily reliant on consumers who look for the cheapest deals, delivered the quickest, with a 1000% customer satisfaction guarantee.
Orvis was a company that would take returns no matter the reason. That, to me, was stupid and not sustainable. There was no responsibility put on the consumer. It was catering to anglers who knew they could grow out of, break, or mistreat an item and it would be replaced without question. Well were are they now and where (which new company) did they run to?
Sadly, the dog bed sales won't be able to cover this sad ending to a storied company. It was a good run, but the end is near. I better grab that Helios D 11 wt before it's too late. I can't imagine not fly fishing with anything else but Orvis in my hand or on my body. I was one of the loyal ones.