My first job out of school I worked for Simms Fishing Products here in Bozeman, Montana. Fly-fishing ranks up there with golf for leisure pursuits and after the movie A River Runs Through It came out in 1994, the sport was all the rage.Simms was born in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in the late 80’s and relocated to Bozeman in the early 90’s. Founded by John Simms and later purchased by KC Walsh, the company had developed a niche of building world class gear required to go out and wade in frigid streams. In fact, the company partnered with W.L. Gore and developed breathable “waders” or pants to wear in the water. You could fish all day and never get hot and sweaty. Big break through.
Here’s the kicker though, these pants, jackets, shirts, etc, are expensive. Very expensive but the quality is unsurpassed. If you buy a Simms piece of gear, it’s going to last for a long, long time. So if you average that cost out over a few years, the value starts to make sense. Plus, pulling a pair of G4 Waders on at the boat ramp is the big kid equivalent of showing up to the first day of basketball practice in the new Air Jordans…probably not going to make you a better ball player but your friends are sure jealous. (Now that’s the mark of a powerful brand when you can make your friends jealous.)
What I learned while at the company was we didn’t take shortcuts. We built the best products so everything from the binders at a sales meeting to the company van is going to live and breathe the brand. And that brand is first-class. Letterhead, business cards, trade show booth, everything was tightly integrated and reinforced the message that we were serious about making the best tools in the world for fly fishing. Sure a few crusty people at trade shows would bitch about the price tag but the brand evangelists shouted them down usually.
Since starting Sweet Onion Creations I’ve thought often how fortunate I was to work for such a company straight out of school. It’s easy to make mediocre products and have to compete on price because the quality isn’t there. Throw in competition from China or India and you’re really giving yourself a mountain to climb. It’s also tempting to cut corners when you’re getting started because the cash isn’t there and it’s a gamble to shoot for the top. Top tier brands don’t compromise and it’s one thing to read a case study in B-School but quite another to execute on those philosophies.
There is no substitute for the sense of pride in making a product that stands up to such standards. Exhausting? Absolutely. Risky? No. It’s the best decision you can make if you’re a manufacturer. Thanks Simms for teaching me that one straight out of the gate.
