Editorial: The Veteran Newcomer in GORE-TEX Waders

Editorial:

The Veteran Newcomer in GORE-TEX Waders

Grundéns have been a central player in the commercial fishing industry for nearly a century, making fishing garments and apparel for the most demanding conditions out there. The Swedish company is now poised to launch it’s brand new range of GORE-TEX waders made specifically for fly fishermen.

By THE EDITORIAL STAFF

Many fly fishermen aren’t yet familiar with Grundens. Can you tell us more about Grundens?

Grundens began nearly 100 years ago on the west coast of Sweden, in the small fishing village of Grundsund when Carl A. Grundén began producing waterproof oil skins to protect North Sea fisherman from the hostile weather that often accompanied their jobs.

A lot has changed since Carl started making waterproof oil skins but our commitment to equiping and supporting fisherman has remained consistent since 1926, and the trust we’ve built over all those years is the impetus to continue seeking ways to improve our product offering and how we act as a company. We remain steadfast in our dedication to solving the needs of all anglers around the world which is why our launch into the fly space has been such an important focus for the brand. Our brand statement is “We Are Fishing” so the launch of our new Boundary GORE-TEX wader and Boundary wading boot enables us to live up to the idea that we are able to equip all anglers regardless of the type of fishing they do.

What is the philosophy behind the brand?

We believe that fishing feeds all of us, both physically and emotionally. At its core, fishing is about respect for nature, a sense of freedom, tackling the un- known, and experiencing the life lessons that prepare us for the future.

Fishing is not only an opportunity to connect with each other; it’s an opportunity to connect with something bigger than ourselves. We also believe that continuing to use our strength as a business to help protect and maintain sustainable fisheries around the world is critical to the long term success of the entire industry.

You’ll see our commitment to the environment demonstrated through programs such as our partnership Net Your Problem who recycle fishing nets into usable materials like Econyl which we use in our Net Sourced product line, switching to 100% compostable packagaing and supporting non-profit partners such as Cast Hope and Captains for Clean water.

How did the idea about transitioning into fly fishing apparel come about?

Grundens has been focusing on expanding our brand into Sportfishing over the past 7-8 years. Our Outerwear and Footwear categories have seen significant product launches for freshwater and saltwater focused styles over the past few years. Our retailer base has seen really strong success with our brand in both these markets, and the requests from retailers for a wader from Grundens became more and more frequent over the past 2 years.

We have had waders and wading specific outerwear on our long range innovation radar for a number of years, but the increased dealer and consumer requests became a driving force for us to initiate this project and align R&D / Product Development resources to make the Wading project a reality.

Grundéns is a Swedish company with production facilities in Europe. What are your strengths compared to other producers of fly fishing apparel?

We have been manufacturing Grudens rainwear in our Portugal factory for 50 years. In fact we just celebrated the Portugal facilities 50th anniversary back in December 2022. Most of our PVC Commercial Fishing products are produced in this facility. Owning our own factory gives us a competitive advantage in the ability to control all aspects of the manufacturing process, which allow us to ensure the highest quality and be nimble to meet customer demand.

Along with production efficiency, we also have pattern-making and garment-engineering expertise in Portugal that supports our global R&D effort. The manufacturing expertise that we have grown internally at Grundens over the past half century also allows us to be a more efficient and censure our 3rd party vendors follow these same high bench marks. That expertise results in a higher quality and more refined product line for our end users.

Can you lift the vail slightly on how you conceive and develop new fly fishing products?

The Grundens Outerwear & Wader category team at Grundens are all dedicated anglers. By being engaged in a wide range of fishing, including fly fishing, it makes our jobs easier when we need to dive in deep with a retail partner or brand ambassador to glean insights into the market’s needs for new wading collection. We start every new project with the “Who and Why”; specifically diving into the question: “Who are we building this product or collection for, and why do they need this from Grundens?”. Really focusing in answering these questions up stream in the R&D process ensures meaningful inputs and decisions earlier in the process.

We embrace a “fail fast to succeed sooner” mindset on the wader project, and moved to designing via prototype early in the development phase. With our Head quarters based on the shores of the Puget Sound it enables us to test equipment year round and in all conditions. The team was able to test very early prototypes which helped inform design concepts and significant functional improvements for the wading angler.

We’re keen to learn more about your launch of GORE-TEX waders. What can you tell us about your collaboration with GORE-TEX and your new waders range?

The Grundens and GORE-TEX partnership started back in 2019 with the launch of our GORE-TEX Outerwear collection. The team at WL GGore was excited to bring Grundens on as a partner and licensee. We rely heavily on the Fitness for Use testing that GORE-TEX uses to evaluate every waterproof/breathable laminate option that is available in the collection of raw materials we work with. Working with GORE-TEX allows us to proceed with confidence that any garment we design and develop in partnership with GORE-TEX will perform in the worst fishing conditions that an angler could possibly face on the water.

The decision to partner with GORE-TEX for this wader launch was super easy.

We wanted to build on the success of our existing GORE-TEX outerwear line, and extend the Grundens brand into the Specialty Fly retail channel that already values the performance benefits and durability track record of GORE-TEX garments.

At the end of the day, the angler will be the one to make the decision on their next wader purchase. Partnering with GORE-TEX as an ingredient brand is one of the many ways that we build confidence at the consumer level in Grundens products.

What other Grundéns products should fly fishermen keep an eye out for in the future?

We have a robust product roadmap to support Grundens’ push into the Specialty Fly market, and a desire to approach every single one of those product development projects with the R&D rigor of the wader project. In the immediate future, you’ll see a bag & pack project that launches this Spring that brings angler centric features into the waterproof bag market. Beyond that, there is the obvious move for us to introduce wading specific outerwear.

A number of our existing GORE-TEX Outerwear styles have wading features pre-built into them, like self-draining pockets. But, there is still room for us to offer innovation in outerwear that spends a good majority of the day submerged in a river.

As far as specifics go… we’ll continue to listen to our retailers, ambassadors, and consumers for direct input into the “Who and Why” for future product extensions that make sense in the market and offer angling innovation for consumers, retailers and Grundens.

How can our readers stay in the loop with regards to new product launches and brand efforts?

The easiest way for readers to stay in the loop is to sign up for our weekly e-newsletters by visiting www.Grundens.com (you’ll also qualify for 20% off your first purchase when you sign up!) and by following us on Instagram. We know In the Loop readers are dedicated anglers and we’d love to share your stories, so please tag us in your social media posts so we can share your story with the rest of our community.