Sitka/Simms Optifade Duck Hunting Waders
- This topic has 11 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Jan 7, 2014 at 1:47 pm by
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These do not exist. Don’t get your hopes up yet. I am making this post in the hopes that people will see the intelligence of this and agitate until they do exist.
Sitka is part-owned by W.L. Gore, makers of Gore-tex. Simms is one of Gore’s longest-standing partners. Both Sitka and Simms are based on Bozeman, Montana. W.L. Gore owns the license on both the Optifade camo pattern (i.e. Sitka’s pattern) and also on the Gore-tex cloth that goes into Simms waders. Moreover, Sitka already makes products out of breathable Gore fabric faced in Optifade.
In other words, all the pieces are in place. Simms just needs to make some Optifade waders in the waterfowl pattern and dual market them with Sitka. As much as Simms has been interested in the traditional bass fishing world, which serves the same customer, this seems like such a no-brainer. And in an effort to make these marketable to the EXISTING breathable wader market, I would love to see Simms introduce these as the first breathable, LINED waders, ideally with Muck Boot or equivalent feet. The liner could be the same waffled microfiber that Sitka is using on the insides of its breathable jackets.
Sure they would be $750, but they would be the ultimate duck hunting wader. And with a breathable microfleece interior, they would also see a lot of use by steelheaders (half of Simms’ stuff is decorated in pixelated camo these days anyway!)
Simms, I know you’re listening. Come on boys, hook us up. 🙂
Zach
Oh and while I’m giving away ideas for free, I would also really like to see someone release a set of quilted down cold weather drawers for inside wader wear, a la the Patagonia Nanopuff line of jackets. I even have a great idea for the stirrups: make them so they attach on one side with a velcro tab, and then hide a second velcro tab up in the leg so the stirrup can be detached and tucked out of sight. Then do a small sliding elastic enclosure around the bottom cuff, so that when the pants are in “wader mode” they can be tightened and stirruped, and when they are in “pants mode” they can be opened up at the cuff so you can wear them out in public. I could see these doing well on the ski market.
Zach
Down pants under waders does not sound comfortable at all.
Fleece wader pants seem to work best for me and they dry quick, can’t imagine walking in for a burger and beer after fishing in down draws.
Maybe that’s just a norther phobia..The problem with the down drawers is that when you sit on your . . . down . . . you compress the down, and effectively lose much of the insulating factor of the down loft. They used to make them, with down and synthetic down substitutes. Certainly better than nothing, but not much. I like the fleece options better.
Or maybe search a few flea markets ’til you find an old wired corset and hook a battery to it???
Simms unisuit if I know my shirt tail is going to come out at some point like pheasant hunting, but i really like the simms wader pants forget the name but having pockets is a plus and they don’t add a lot of bulk.
Hands down if your going in the water when it’s cold like we do for Steelhead and waterfowl here lacrosse 5mm neoprene with thinsulate in the boots can’t be beat.Hey Simms…..how about a long sleeve non-cotton fishing shirt in the digi-camo pattern?
THIS is a no-brainer.
I agree that camo waders by Simms would have a large market, and as you pointed out Zach, it seems that the pieces are in place where they could offer a collaborative camo wader with Sitka. That seems like it would be an absolute home run in terms of marketing, although I suspect Simms may prefer to remain independent with a camo wader to maintain the future possibility of further expansion into the hunting soft goods market. I’m 99% sure Simms used to make their guide wader in camo years ago, so potentially that did not sell well for them and they may therefore be reluctant to release another camo wader. However, in my personal experience, there is a definite desire from duck hunters for a Simms camo wader. I have had numerous duck hunters ask me for advice on waders, and basically they all want the same thing: a bootfoot, camouflage, durable, goretex wader. For many of the duck hunters (and trappers) I know, Simms is already the standard for durability and reliability, as it is in fishing. Furthermore, Simms already added one of the pieces to that puzzle this year with the release of 2 bootfoot models of the G3 guide wader. I expect that those will sell quite well to duck hunters, but a camo model would no doubt further increase sales, and could also expand Simms reign further into the hunting demographic as well.
As far as lined waders go, there is no way I would ever buy a wader with an attached liner of any kind. Layering based on conditions gives far more versatility, and a pair of fleece / capilene pants are much easier to wash than a pair of lined waders. My waders already get funky enough throughout the season without a liner in them, I can only imagine the smells that would accumulate in a lined wader. No thanks!
Zach,
I have Patagonia nano-puff pants. The biggest complaint is there are no pockets as I wear them as pants most days. I need to put my wallet somewhere.
http://featheredfriends.com/ in Seattle can custom built you down pants or pretty much anything else you want.
Definitely seems like there would be a strong market for some Simms camo waders, but I don’t think the Sitka pattern is a very good pattern compared to others on the market. I was duck hunting last Saturday with some guys and walked across the pond to pick up some ducks. When I turned and walked back the Sitka pattern popped out more than the other three (much cheaper) camo jackets in the brush blind. I’ve noticed the pattern does not blend well when viewed at a distance in a number of different terrains.
Grant I agree generally. I actually liked Sitka’s older Mountain Mimicry pattern better, but their gear is so good (and I feel like camo patterns so much less important than just having SOME kind of camo), that I invested in their Open Country system for my hunting (which heretofore has been mostly on the ground in brownish terrain).
That said, supposedly what counts is not how the human eye perceives the patterns, but how they are seen by the target species. A lot of Wal-mart camo actually is highly visible in the UV spectrum, which deer see really well. Something about the brightness of the pattern on the shelf needing to shade into that part of the spectrum — helps the gear sell, but like a flashy fly, may not actually produce.
Zach
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