Im starting a Fishing Apparal Business and I want to offer money and product
Money won't be alot in beginning but it WONT be 20% off and give public 30% off lol...I want to make it a legit PS position...Please chime in with any thoughts

Tough business to crack into with all the competition. Hopefully something sets your product apart. Good luck. Would love to see some of it.

They're overwhelmingly hated on this forum, but the guys who sell product are the ones posting on youtube or Instagram two or three times a week who have a following of hundreds of thousands. Actually, quite a few of the bigger ones live near DFW. They aren't the most talented fisherman and their videos can be annoying to some people, but they have proven results. 100,000+ people show up to watch 3+ of their videos every week. And the people who are faithfully watching these videos buy the products they push.

"apparel" would be a good start. Thought about startup costs, distribution, design etc. My guess is those are more important than finding some local angler to wear them on Fork while in the idea stage.

Clearly it's the easiest business in the world, slap some name like HUK on it, maybe Simms, pay a couple pros and charge 3 times what it's worth so it will seem like its better. Fisherman are the biggest suckers ever, "only the fish know and they aren't talking" bahahahahahahaha

No kidding! Highway robbery on their prices.

3 months ago you were posting that a $300 kayak was all you could afford. Now you're starting an apparel company?

Maybe he didn't live out of his means and saved money and finally had enough to start his business

Don't get the terms "all I can afford" mixed with "all the money I have"
All I can afford this month for my fishing expenses is around 400$. But My house is paid off, truck is paid off, and I put 2000$ a month in savings.

People today live above their means, taking a boat loan out to 25 years and thinking you own the boat ect. Ect you get the point

^he wins

you mean you arent going to offer a "special pro staff price of 20% off" the overpriced product? you wont fit in with some of the other fishing companies.. dont forget to offer special 30-40% off sale prices

If you're right, then you definitely win. In today's world, this usually isn't the case. Kudos to the OP if that's the case.

I am going to try to phrase this delicately as to not sound like a ( I )-hole. "Pro Staff" works for tangible items that the target group can benefit from. When local guys talk to or see their "local pro", they aren't reading his shirt, they are asking fishing questions. These staffs work with lures/baits well because of the nature of the fishermen. The "pro", the top guide, or the local trail heros show results. Yeah we all know a Big Bite and Zoom brush hog are so similar that I can barely tell, let alone a fish, but if you see a guy standing up there with a check 3 times a month throwing the Big Bite while you're throwing zoom, I can almost guarantee there will be some Big Bites in some boats. Fact is the guy was on fish and could have thrown any brand (withing reason) and still won. That's how he got the "pro staff" deal in the first place. As far as fishig apparel goes, (here is where I have to be careful) the "real fishermen" wear practical clothing or brand loyalty type stuff. That's not your primary market, you want the guys who want to let everyone know they fish. The columbia shirt fad, Salt Life worn by people who went to the beach once when they were 7, Guy Harvey shirts worn by people who can't identify a single fish on it, UA, HUK, ect. So going straight for apparel, like was mentioned up the comments, you have to have something different. Otherwise the only way brand recognition through the Pro Staff route would literally mean PRO STAFF. Like Elite Series, Bassmaster Classic, on TV type PRO. Make a cool design, funny shirts, whatever and just wear them, have friends wear them, donate to tourney prize packs, put them in gas stations around destination lakes. Good luck man! Hope you blow the roof off of it!

My lifestyle let's say is heavy on Dave Ramsey plan so im ok...$300 kayak is a challenge...This will be a shoestring startup heavy on the Gorilla Marketing if you know business you know what I mean...Yes WORK is not a bad four letter word for me

As the trend continues to grow for fishermen to wear buffs, I think these moisture wicking hooded shirts are going to catch on. That is what I wear when I'm on the water, and I really like them. To my knowledge, there are only about 4 brands that make one - Under Armor, Nike, Huk and Columbia. Maybe you take a small risk and get ahead of the curve on hooded summertime shirts.