One of America’s most storied outdoor brands is making some big changes. In an internal letter, Orvis President Simon Perkins laid out a new plan for the future of the company, which has been making and selling fishing rods in Vermont since 1856. While Perkins acknowledged that Orvis has weathered many changes in its long history, he said it’s time for its business model to evolve.
That includes several difficult steps, like discontinuing the catalog Orvis has made for 170 years, he said. A “limited number” of retail stores will also be closed, and the company will lay off 112 workers, or 8% of its workforce, according to the letter, which the brand shared with GearJunkie this week.
Orvis remains strong in its core pursuits, which include fly fishing, wingshooting, and conservation, Perkins said. But he added that the current “inflection point” in the company’s history demands a different approach.
“We need to make 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,” Perkins wrote. “Like others in our industry, Orvis is in a period of business evolution that requires us to think differently.”
Focus on Vermont-Made Fishing Rods
In January, Orvis said it would move its headquarters from Sunderland to Manchester, according to VT Digger, which first reported on the Orvis layoffs. By moving the headquarters, Orvis aimed to shrink the brand’s footprint in response to the rise of hybrid workers, the outlet reported.
The newer changes outlined by Perkins this week will also improve the company, he argued. By ending print production of the catalog, for example, the company will eliminate the use of over 2,500 tons of paper each year.
“This will allow us to refocus our storytelling and product selling in ways that better reach and inspire our current and future customers,” Perkins wrote.
Orvis will also reduce overall topline sales, which Perkins argued would allow the brand to “tighten our assortment to best represent the brand.” As for the layoffs, the departing workers will receive 2 months of full pay and benefits, as well as severance pay.
Perkins’ letter also leaned into the brand’s successes in recent years. That includes what he called “our most successful launch in history” with the new Helios fishing rods. We’re pretty big fans of those rods here at GearJunkie.
Hunting & Fishing Editor Rachelle Schrute said the Orvis Helios 3D “is almost the perfect fly rod” in a 2022 review. And in GearJunkie’s first look at the new Helios this year, Schrute once again lauded the design.
“Fly rods have become so dialed in recent years that it’s hard to imagine seriously impactful improvements, but it sounds like Orvis took the time and initiative needed to fix the unfixable and improve the un-improvable,” she wrote.
Orvis will continue to make those kinds of products its core focus, Perkins said.
“As they’ve done for over a century and a half, 60 rodsmiths in our Southern Vermont rod shop continue to produce the best fly rods in the world,” he wrote.
The company changes announced by Perkins will roll out over the next 18 months.
