The 'aesthetics are the first filter' point is exactly right. The piece worth adding is what filters at the second stage. Aesthetics recruit. Substance retains. The 25-year-old who comes in through Duck Camp's Instagram stays in the sport because someone hands them a Norman Maclean book five years later, or because a piece of real writing hits their feed at the right moment. The new church needs both kinds of architecture. The brands you named are building the entrance. The writers are quietly building the nave.
Fair point, and the syndication argument is sharper than my framing allowed for. The Substack listen feature is the small version of the bigger blur you're naming. Format-as-audience-selector is probably better described as a tendency than a rule at this point. Good exchange, Andrew. Glad the piece kicked it off.
This is really well said, especially the distinction between recruitment and retention.
Aesthetics absolutely matter because they lower the barrier to entry. They make people feel like they belong before they fully understand the culture yet. That’s not superficial. That’s the lure.
But eventually the product, the ritual, the friendships, the stories, the writing, the places themselves… those are what create permanence. Nobody stays in fly fishing for ten years because of a cool IG post or video on YouTube.
I especially like your point that the “new church needs both kinds of architecture.” That feels right to me. The brands are often building the doorway. The deeper voices and experiences are what make people want to stay once they walk through it.
And honestly, that may be the healthiest version of growth for the sport. Not replacing the old foundation, but creating more paths that eventually lead people toward it.
Andrew, I appreciate the thoughtful response. If I may, in a collegial way, offer a soft push back. I mostly agree, but I'd push back on 'medium is irrelevant.' Story carries the meaning, but medium chooses the audience. Writing rewards patience and creates patient readers. Video rewards scenery and creates impulsive viewers. Podcasts reward intimacy and create loyal listeners. The brand that picks well isn't just selecting format. It's deciding what kind of relationship it wants on the other side of the work.
Abram, to an extent I agree, but now that podcasts are being syndicated on Spotify and YouTube simultaneously, then cut up and being posted on Instagram Stories, X and TikTok afterwards, it's getting harder to differentiate all the different (long-form and short-form) audiences. You can actually "listen" to a Substack posts on the SS app–what does that mean for audience? Long-form storytelling is becoming fairly elastic (to me) in terms of medium, but this is fairly deep down the rabbit hole... ~Andrew
Abram, this is largely true - most Instagram feeds, even if done well, are simply eye candy and the top layer of the marketing/brand introduction funnel. To build deeper connection with the brand, real storytelling is required (pick your medium), and we'd argue that the medium (writing, video, podcasting) is probably irrelevant. You just have to tell thoughtful stories, which takes time, curation and talent. ~Andrew
Amen sir. Trust me when I say I would rather be back in Michigan fishing the Holy Waters of the AuSable with my dad and friends in crap waders and a bamboo rod circa 1977 —- but here we are,
We had some feedback on this article and a quick correction. The correction: in the original, we had noted that Kevin Sloan, the founder of Skwala, had worked at Patagonia, but, actually, it was others on their small team, as noted on Skwala’s website: “Our small team has roots in brands like Sitka, Patagonia, Simms and Yeti.” That reporting has been updated in the piece. Also, “Below-board Journalism and Graft”: We also received some feedback that the Flylab media brand, based on this article, has become a platform for investors to shill for their investments. This allegation is patently false. The writer for the piece, Andrew Luter, is perfectly capable of defending himself, and will, but he is not writing, investing or “shilling” for any of these brands. He is an independent writer. We posted a link to his Rio Chato website in the article footer, if you’re interested in sleuthing around about his background and business focus–have at it. Andrew is a writer with deep investment, startup and outdoor space IP, and his perspectives are thoughtful and challenging in a category of, frankly, mailed in and antiquated thinking. End of the day, he and Flylab are not mouthpieces for equity land grabs parading as media brands. ~Andrew
Hey all - I'm Andrew Luter and I wrote this piece. From what I understand the folks at Flylab have gotten a bit of feedback on it, some positive, some negative and some that is way off the mark. I take the good with the bad and will only address remarks that are factually incorrect. For the record, I don't personally know anyone at Duck Camp. Although my firm and I are active investors in the outdoor rec space, I have no investments in nor have I had any investment-related conversations with any of the brands listed in the piece. Any suggestions to the contrary are flat wrong. I didn't think I needed to put this disclaimer on my piece, but I will do so from now on to be clear. Also, to be clear, this was an opinion piece based on how I have seen this industry evolve over the last 30+ years. Duck Camp was illustrative of the "new school" in general. I guess it could have been Howler or Free Fly - but I like DC's origin story and ethos. For me in embodied "The lifestyle is the product. The apparel supports the story, not the other way around." So I won't apologize for that - or for any of it for that matter. If this spurred some emotion in you, then I did my job. If it gets you thinking about this space differently going-forward - great. If you printed it out only to burn it as heresy - bully for you! Either way, I love the feedback if not the rumors. - Andrew
The day I buy waders because they photograph well — hell will have frozen over, the Vikings will have won the Super Bowl, and the posers will have finally taken over.
As someone in the, ahem, older demographic myself I agree with the sentiment. The reality for the generation that is going to drive this market going forward, however, is that Instagram, Tik Tok etc are their primary avenues of discovery. Aesthetics are important as a first filter -- not the only one.
The 'aesthetics are the first filter' point is exactly right. The piece worth adding is what filters at the second stage. Aesthetics recruit. Substance retains. The 25-year-old who comes in through Duck Camp's Instagram stays in the sport because someone hands them a Norman Maclean book five years later, or because a piece of real writing hits their feed at the right moment. The new church needs both kinds of architecture. The brands you named are building the entrance. The writers are quietly building the nave.
Fair point, and the syndication argument is sharper than my framing allowed for. The Substack listen feature is the small version of the bigger blur you're naming. Format-as-audience-selector is probably better described as a tendency than a rule at this point. Good exchange, Andrew. Glad the piece kicked it off.
This is really well said, especially the distinction between recruitment and retention.
Aesthetics absolutely matter because they lower the barrier to entry. They make people feel like they belong before they fully understand the culture yet. That’s not superficial. That’s the lure.
But eventually the product, the ritual, the friendships, the stories, the writing, the places themselves… those are what create permanence. Nobody stays in fly fishing for ten years because of a cool IG post or video on YouTube.
I especially like your point that the “new church needs both kinds of architecture.” That feels right to me. The brands are often building the doorway. The deeper voices and experiences are what make people want to stay once they walk through it.
And honestly, that may be the healthiest version of growth for the sport. Not replacing the old foundation, but creating more paths that eventually lead people toward it.
Andrew, I appreciate the thoughtful response. If I may, in a collegial way, offer a soft push back. I mostly agree, but I'd push back on 'medium is irrelevant.' Story carries the meaning, but medium chooses the audience. Writing rewards patience and creates patient readers. Video rewards scenery and creates impulsive viewers. Podcasts reward intimacy and create loyal listeners. The brand that picks well isn't just selecting format. It's deciding what kind of relationship it wants on the other side of the work.
Abram, to an extent I agree, but now that podcasts are being syndicated on Spotify and YouTube simultaneously, then cut up and being posted on Instagram Stories, X and TikTok afterwards, it's getting harder to differentiate all the different (long-form and short-form) audiences. You can actually "listen" to a Substack posts on the SS app–what does that mean for audience? Long-form storytelling is becoming fairly elastic (to me) in terms of medium, but this is fairly deep down the rabbit hole... ~Andrew
Abram, this is largely true - most Instagram feeds, even if done well, are simply eye candy and the top layer of the marketing/brand introduction funnel. To build deeper connection with the brand, real storytelling is required (pick your medium), and we'd argue that the medium (writing, video, podcasting) is probably irrelevant. You just have to tell thoughtful stories, which takes time, curation and talent. ~Andrew
Just a thought from an antique: better than who you wear is who you read. And how you fish.
Quite right.
Amen sir. Trust me when I say I would rather be back in Michigan fishing the Holy Waters of the AuSable with my dad and friends in crap waders and a bamboo rod circa 1977 —- but here we are,
As someone who wore Hang Ten as a teenager, I understand the draw of identification with a lifestyle. You wrote what needed to be written.
We had some feedback on this article and a quick correction. The correction: in the original, we had noted that Kevin Sloan, the founder of Skwala, had worked at Patagonia, but, actually, it was others on their small team, as noted on Skwala’s website: “Our small team has roots in brands like Sitka, Patagonia, Simms and Yeti.” That reporting has been updated in the piece. Also, “Below-board Journalism and Graft”: We also received some feedback that the Flylab media brand, based on this article, has become a platform for investors to shill for their investments. This allegation is patently false. The writer for the piece, Andrew Luter, is perfectly capable of defending himself, and will, but he is not writing, investing or “shilling” for any of these brands. He is an independent writer. We posted a link to his Rio Chato website in the article footer, if you’re interested in sleuthing around about his background and business focus–have at it. Andrew is a writer with deep investment, startup and outdoor space IP, and his perspectives are thoughtful and challenging in a category of, frankly, mailed in and antiquated thinking. End of the day, he and Flylab are not mouthpieces for equity land grabs parading as media brands. ~Andrew
Hey all - I'm Andrew Luter and I wrote this piece. From what I understand the folks at Flylab have gotten a bit of feedback on it, some positive, some negative and some that is way off the mark. I take the good with the bad and will only address remarks that are factually incorrect. For the record, I don't personally know anyone at Duck Camp. Although my firm and I are active investors in the outdoor rec space, I have no investments in nor have I had any investment-related conversations with any of the brands listed in the piece. Any suggestions to the contrary are flat wrong. I didn't think I needed to put this disclaimer on my piece, but I will do so from now on to be clear. Also, to be clear, this was an opinion piece based on how I have seen this industry evolve over the last 30+ years. Duck Camp was illustrative of the "new school" in general. I guess it could have been Howler or Free Fly - but I like DC's origin story and ethos. For me in embodied "The lifestyle is the product. The apparel supports the story, not the other way around." So I won't apologize for that - or for any of it for that matter. If this spurred some emotion in you, then I did my job. If it gets you thinking about this space differently going-forward - great. If you printed it out only to burn it as heresy - bully for you! Either way, I love the feedback if not the rumors. - Andrew
Most insightful article on the subject Andrew!
The day I buy waders because they photograph well — hell will have frozen over, the Vikings will have won the Super Bowl, and the posers will have finally taken over.
Hilarious!
As someone in the, ahem, older demographic myself I agree with the sentiment. The reality for the generation that is going to drive this market going forward, however, is that Instagram, Tik Tok etc are their primary avenues of discovery. Aesthetics are important as a first filter -- not the only one.