Fashion Meets Fishing

My eldest sister brought this to my attention today, and I thought it was an interesting topic for the fly fishing community. The article has some good points and it could effect all of us fly tiers, check it out. Here are a few quotations from the article, full article is located at the URL below.


“They’ve been genetically bred for fly tying, and that’s what they should be used for,” Mr. Brown said.

Fly fishing feathers — which individually are called hackles and as a group called saddles — are harvested from roosters painstakingly bred to grow supple feathers. It takes more than a year for a rooster to grow feathers long and pliable enough for use by fly fishermen. Because no one could have predicted the fashion trend, there are not enough to go around.

“The fashion world is a vastly larger animal than the fly fishing world,” Mr. Whiting said. “We can’t keep up with demand. Things are pretty crazy.”

“It’s business. We’re happy to sell whatever feathers we can to whomever,” said Mr. Lanning, who has received some calls about his feathers. And, he likes the look.
“I think it’s kind of cool,” Mr. Lanning said. “I think it’s kind of sexy, to be honest with you, for lack of a better word.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/sports/when-fashion-meets-fishing-the-feathers-fly.html?_r=1

Courtsey of NY Times