Help Out with an Article
- This topic has 16 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated Jul 28, 2011 at 7:07 pm by
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Hey guys –
I’m doing a piece for American Angler’s Headwaters section on the fly tying hackle hair extension craze.
I need some hard data.
I sold 8 saddles that I paid $100 total wholesale for $1500 on ebay last month. We have been sold out of the longer grizzly/ dry fly hackle for sometime now at the shop. They are even starting to buy shorter length hackle now too.
Have only had a few clients upset about not being able get hackle, but most clients just think it is funny that women are paying sometimes up to $15 for a feather in their hair.
I know some of the two-handed steelhead guys are getting pretty ticked because they can’t get grizzly saddles for tying intruders.
If you call Hareline, Whiting, Wapsi, etc… most will come pretty close to laughing at you if you ask if they have saddles and necks.
-Mike
Our veteran fly shop employee, Ron Foster has been setting up private appointments here at the shop to sell feathers by the piece. He charged $2.50 per feather and has now profited over $6000. He’s got a nice chunk of change to put up for the Seychelles next year.
He had appointments everyday for about three weeks and now it’s quieted down. He hasn’t had an appointment in about a week. I’d say the craze is settling as predicted by the stylists – “it will be over by the end of summer”.
Matt
www.mattjonesphotography.com
“it will be over by the end of summer”.
I think you may be right. Judging from the ramblings of 3 daughters, there will be one more rush right before school starts and hopefully that will be the end of it.
Zach, I sold 4 Pro Grade Whiting saddles for $1200 to a shop out West. If you want more info about the e-commerce end of the hair extension biz I can give some more details privately.
IMHO, I personally don’t believe it is over. It is the lack of the long, dyed griz colors and summer vacations. The “Fashion Packs” are just coming out now.
Once the supply is gone, the fad will end. I just don’t think that the hackle suppliers will be able to keep up with the demand. Especially if we see a move toward also designing accessories to go with the feather extensions. I’m sure we will see fashionistas substitute a variety of feather types before this all ends. For example, your partridge or guinea feathers could be a target too. Heaven forbid that someone decides to build a feather boa out of nice hackle and then we have to deal with the demand for that.
That said, a local fly shop here….The owner says that he has no hackle for sale. “If I had some, I would be selling it for $10 to $20 per feather”, he says. I’ve been in the shop 3 times to purchase hackle and always get the same response. Finally I just stopped asking for the stuff. I literally have 6 hackles for tying size 18 and 20 dry flies from Whiting 100 packs.
I’m in the parking lot after makinig a purchase of the usual small toys and assorted tying materials. I usually gop there once a week to pick up a few things I will need for tying etc.
wow…i think i should start moving some feathers…is there much of a demand for cream colored saddles?
ie light cahill colored…or are they really just buying grizzlie hacklesThis is my first post on this forum. I’m from New England and have been a striper fisherman since the mid nineties and tie a lot of flat wing style flies, so, my saddle collection is fairly deep and contained more than a few mistakes as far as the type of color and quality I want for tying. I culled ten patches that I’ll never miss and hadn’t taken more than a few feathers from and grossed about thirteen hundred dollars on eBay, not bad for stuff I would probably never use. So I got to order a new CTS blank and hardware, a couple of lines and other junk, plus give my wife enough mad money that she shouldn’t complain about my trip to the Cape next week. 🙂
JCZach, here is the first fly shop I have noticed selling the new Whiting Fashion Packs online… http://greatfeathers.com/whiting-fashion-packs.aspx … $48 for 12 very long, sleek Whiting saddle feathers.
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