Fishin' Clothes

One of my projects this semester, an NHH senior project, is to make a set of women's fishing clothes that is attractive and not just a "unisex" version of men's clothing. Oftentimes, what is marketed as being for women is just plain unattractive, lacking both hanger appeal and body appeal. Instead of making the clothes to fit, flatter, and be comfortable on women, it is just sized-down menswear that is full or tight in all the wrong places.

Even big-name companies, like Bass Pro Shop, carry very few women's items (around a dozen, compared to literally hundreds of men's items), and what they do carry tends to be unisex blobs of clothing that are uncomfortable. Pants rely on drawstrings to fit at the waist, or have a long, narrow crotchseam that binds at the hips and sags at the inseam. There's no real reason for the dearth of women's fishing clothes; niche markets are generally fairly sustainable in the long run, especially ones that have so many potential consumers. I know many women who fish in spite of discomfort, and many others who would fish if they could be comfortable.

So what I've been making is a pair of women's pants, a knit top in a pretty color but still in a technical fabric, and a vest that fits a woman's contours and needs (also in a pretty color). Instead of anticipating that a fisherwoman will just buy what approximately fits, regardless of what it looks like, this is designed to attract her based on what she actually likes, not just what she needs. Instead of breast pockets on the vest, I hope to be able to put magnets inside slits to create places for the flies to attach. There will be magnetic closures, instead of velcro that will get nasty with time, or snaps, or a zipper.


Haha! I triumph over computers, and win! Here's the picture.