Opinion: Made in Montana

So I was flipping through the L.L. Bean catalog the other day and then I picked up the Orvis catalog and something struck me: No, it wasn’t that companies still mail catalogs to old guys like me, it was that virtually every product they sold was imported.

All the shirts, the shoes, the packs, the hats, imported, imported, imported.

The only thing I saw that wasn’t imported was the Orvis fly rods and reels.

(As an aside, I took a fella fishing this summer and let him use my old Orvis Battenkill bamboo fly rod. I didn’t pay all that much for it, maybe $400, but he took a spill on a slippery rock and I thought for sure he’d broken the handle off the rod. He didn’t, but I thought, oh well, there goes a rod. But then I got home and checked online to see what Orvis is charging for a new bamboo rod and had an extreme case of sticker shock: They were $4,400. Yikes! 

Can’t remember if they’re imported, but I doubt it. For what it’s worth, in the world of bamboo rods, Orvis are considered production rods, meaning they’re not all individually hand made, at least mine wasn’t. Even today, it’s still not a real collectible rod. It’s gone up a few hundred, maybe, but not thousands. Thing is, production or not, it casts great, which is why I keep it.)

But I have digressed significantly.

Let’s get back on track, shall we?

The point in all of this is I found, and I’m not sure how, a Montana company making real Montana clothing.

Duckworth.

They specialize in merino wool clothing. Merino wool is one of my favorite fabrics, because it is warm without the itch of most wool and super soft.

Duckworth grows its own wool from sheep at its ranch in Dillon, spun into fabric and made into clothing, using a variety of plants and specialists back East before being shipped to customers.

The thing is, their clothes are about the same price (sometimes less) than competitors, like Icebreaker, which uses all imported fabrics.

I own two Duckworth sweaters and they’re top notch and both were about $100. 

You can check them out at: Duckworth.com