Orvis president Simon Perkins (left) with his late grandfather, Leigh Perkins, who bought the company in 1965. Simon took over the company in 2020, and Leigh passed away in 2021. Photo: Brian Grossenbacher, courtesy of Orvis
Many anglers were surprised to see the statement below from the Orvis Company appear on social media last week, followed by news stories, such as one on VTDigger with the headline, “Orvis to close 36 locations by early 2026.” I reached out to the company for some clarification, and Orvis president Simon Perkins offered to give us a phone interview, in which he discussed the company’s new direction at length.
[Disclosure: I worked at Orvis from 2010-2024, and I was laid off as part of a large-scale corporate restructuring last October. Orvis is also a long-time MidCurrent advertiser.]
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the outdoor industry is going through a difficult time, and an excellent article in Outside earlier this year laid out some of the main reasons:
These sources cited a laundry list of hurdles that the industry faces, from climate change and natural disasters, to supply-chain aftershocks that are still rippling outward from the COVID-19 pandemic. Uncertainty over national politics, and even competition from indoor activities, were also on the list.
Add new tariffs to the mix, and several of these problems get even more challenging. So what’s a company to do?
In Orvis’s case, according to Perkins, the goal is to return to the core focus on outdoor sports—namely fly fishing and wingshooting—that have been the heart of the company since it was founded in 1856. Over the past few decades, the brand has taken plenty of heat from the angling community for its more “lifestyle” products that have nothing to do with the outdoors, such as women’s fashion, home goods, and an infamous $1000 leather cooler. According to Perkins, that’s the kind of stuff that’s going away as the company leans into the outdoors.
For obvious reasons—this is MidCurrent, not Forbes—the focus of our interview was less about the business realities that caused this shift and more on what the fly-fishing community can expect as a result of these major changes at one of the biggest companies in the sport.
Orvis HQ in Sunderland, Vermont.
MidCurrent: How does this new focus affect the current products that Orvis sells for fly fishing, as well as the development of new products?
Perkins: It will affect it, but very much in a good way. We’ve seen a lot of success with our core assortment of fly-fishing products in recent years, and this new focus for the company is going to allow us to have an even sharper, more singular focus on the core across the company, which is exciting. All of us across across the company and across leadership are going to have even more time and energy dedicated and focused on product innovation at the heart of fly fishing.
A company like Orvis—with so many different product categories—has so many internal processes in play. And now that we’re going to be a more focused company, it will allow us to look at all of those processes and really align them toward the core of the business, which will serve our customers with the products they want and where they want them. Instead of multiple different processes serving multiple different businesses, we’re going to be able to centralize those all and focus all of those on our core business, which is exciting.
MidCurrent: Will the current Orvis fly fishing team continue to be running the show?
Perkins: Yes. We have such a strong team, especially at the center of the fly-fishing and wing shooting businesses. And we don’t want to disrupt that. If anything, we want to add to that momentum. So those individuals will continue to help us win in the ways that we’ve been successful recently.
The flagship Orvis retail store in Manchester, Vermont.
MidCurrent: You’ve announced that you’re closing 31 stores and 5 outlets. How will this change the ways that customers around the country have access to Orvis gear and apparel?
Perkins: One of the things that’s unique about Orvis is that customers can engage with us as a brand across a range that few other brands, if any in the space, really can offer: our retail stores, online, our dealers, our lodges, our schools, our shooting grounds, and other online resources like the Fly Fishing Learning Center. That’s something’s unique to Orvis, and that breadth of access to all those things isn’t going away. If anything, we’re going to be even more focused on them.
More specific to the question you asked, our focus will be on making sure that customers can shop and learn and experience Orvis in the ways most relevant to them, whether that’s in person, online, or through our valued local partners. But Orvis retail stores absolutely remain an essential component of our go-forward strategy.
A big part of meeting our customers where they are is going to be leaning into our network of dealers—independent fly shops that carry Orvis products. This will allow us to deepen and expand those partnerships so that more customers can find Orvis gear at their trusted local fly shop. We know everybody loves the local fly shop, and so that is absolutely a big focus of our go-forward strategy.
MidCurrent: Can customers expect the same levels of information, customer service, repairs, warranty, all that stuff that they’ve really become accustomed to as part of the overall Orvis experience?
Perkins: That customer experience and that service are not changing. It’s such an important part of our brand and our values. All the things you named—repairs, warranty, customer service—remain central to the Orvis experience.
MidCurrent: Any changes to the free Fly Fishing 101 classes and related programs?
Perkins: Nope. Those are the types of experiences that we offer in our brick-and-mortar locations, both retail stores and dealers, and they’ve been a big part of our history. Going forward, our commitment to teaching people and bringing them into the sport and re-imagining the pathways into the sport of fly fishing is unchanged.
MidCurrent: Any changes to the endorsed lodges, outfitters, and guides or travel programs?
Perkins: The endorsed program and the Adventures offerings are such valuable and important differentiators that set Orvis apart, and they provide really meaningful value to our customers. Those programs have stood the test of time, and they continue to grow and evolve to meet both our partners’ needs and also customers’ needs. But no, they’re not going anywhere. If anything, they’re going to continue to be more central to the Orvis story.
MidCurrent: Will the company still support conservation efforts through its commitment to donate 5% of pre-tax profits?
Perkins: Our core value of “protecting what we love” has long been a guiding belief at Orvis, and our 5% for Nature program is not changing. As a private, family-held company, we prioritize investing in the long-term success of fly fishing and wingshooting, which includes the communities and the natural resources they rely on.
MidCurrent: In the process of focusing Orvis as a brand, what’s actually going away?
Perkins: We are moving away from the products that are furthest from our core pursuits. Orvis will offer a more focused assortment that is fly-fishing gear, wing-shooting gear, the men’s and women’s apparel most adjacent to those sports, and our core dog assortment. While much of our broader lifestyle apparel has served our customers well, some of it has moved away from the essence of who we are.
We’re not stepping away from entire categories people love. What’s changing is the intent: more focus on product that connects directly to our pursuits like hard goods, technical clothing, sun protection, and performance-driven pieces. At the end of the day, this is about ensuring Orvis continues to show up in the ways people know and love us for, for decades into the future. That’s how we’re making all of our decisions. [Editor’s note: To get a sense of which products will no longer be available, check out the “Last Release” page on the Orvis website.]
MidCurrent: Do you think that the version of Orvis that existed in, say, 2019 is no longer viable in the current business world and climate?
Perkins: I think it’s certainly a lot harder. The strongest brands are the ones that are most focused on what they can do really, really well, and what they’ve proven they can do well over time, right? So we’re going to be focused on something that we’ve done for, not years or decades, but more than a century. And it’s the strongest and most durable and most resilient and most successful part of our business.
In today’s retail world, with some of the unprecedented challenges that we’re facing, being focused is a huge advantage because you’re more agile, and it gives you more options in the type of landscape we’re facing right now.
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