Fly fishing is popular here in Bozeman, MT… Children named Madison sit in most elementary classrooms. Summer sees the university students (some called Madison) from Montana State (aka Trout U) disembark for their break as anglers far-and-wide school to the trout-rich waters of the Missouri watershed. Toyota pickups haul drift-boats and dressed-down business magnates on guided pilgrimages to the Madison, Missouri, and Yellowstone…. while scruffy locals haul their Toyota pickups to favorite streams. The “intellectual capital” of a good piece of water– those glorious little capillaries where God Himself surely smiles on the solidarity and good bite that greets the invested angler– is worth as much to the visitors as the gold that brought Western man to Southwest Montana 150 years ago; and even more to the people that live here year-round.
I fish. I like it.
For years, I wet-waded from March through October. At 6’7″ and 180 lbs, manufactured fishing waders have never been an option. I have a 37″ inseam and 33″ waist, and the price to slide into a pair of those extra-special overalls seemED (emphasis on past tense) a little too “extra-“ for me.
It’s an entirely different blog post for another time, but modern garment grading (the process that creates the various sizes of a garment; usually S, M, L, XL in sportswear) fails to fit a conspicuous portion of the market: tall/slim builds; long arms; small waist/large thighs; petite women; large busts. It’s not anyone’s fault, that’s the status quo— a necessary evil to enjoy the quality and level of detail in a state-of-the-art piece of clothing—or is it?… But again, it’s a different bite of the elephant than we’ll take today.
So what to do? Like any reasonable person, I decided to make a pair.
I’ll admit, I am critical of the state of design for fishing waders. The level of detail shown – especially in construction – in some of the alpinism kits hasn’t transferred to the fishing market. The clean aesthetic that bonding technology can provide are not only hyper-modern, but more efficient for applications requiring waterproofness, avoiding material stack-up, registration, and if you pick your battles, labor. I aimed to make a rendition of wader design that centered around being “sleek”—low fuss, elegant, non-decorative. Truth be told, my everyday dress is quite “square”—I like traditional cuts and traditional aesthetics, but I wanted to make something unlike what anyone has seen…. Spoiler: it 80% worked.
Keep in mind: the full design and fabrication of these waders were on my own time after-hours over the winter season, and had only a single iteration in full-on waterproof breathable fabric, that is: the final iteration.
You can see from the process photographs that the first patterns were mocked up out of my favorite WPB substitute: painter’s plastic—wonderfully stable, with a hand similar to most 3-layer WPB, and CHEAP. It took nine iterations of pattern prototypes to block and then cut a final pattern that I was comfortable moving into the final fabric/construction with. As it came together, it fit as I expected. I chose to go stockingfoot on this pair—what I hadn’t foreseen, nor could try in the plastic prototypes, was how installing the neoprene booties would change the fit; constraining the lower leg. For all my “clever” patterning—the darts, billows, ease, and gussets—and prototyping, there were still factors I did not imagine that manifested themselves in the designed material.
Quick plug: this is where Salient design process thrives—material testing and R&D to work out process, material, and technical construction issues: chemical compatibility, patterning, material choice, cost reduction. We complete our work on-site, and in good time, getting answers from our studio/lab/shop to our clients faster and more clearly than a factory may.
I used the waders all year long with no failures: high, cold water in the springtime Missouri, low small-stream fishing, floating on the bitterly cold Big Hole, and finger-freezing brown trout runs. I see their value, and I know the amount of work that goes into them… fishing waders are a lovely piece of kit, and I am happy to have them now.
That lower leg, though… I might have to make a revised pair….
Seth Carlstrom is the head of the Soft Goods department at Salient. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from “Trout U”, textile certification from NC State, and was producing performance garments and gear to fit his lanky frame long before being introduced to industry.
Process Practice Makes It Perfect
If you want to be good at basketball, it’s likely you’d spend hours dribbling, working on your layups, and shooting three pointers. Chances are, you wouldn’t go out to play only on Game Day when it’s all on the line, and hope for the best. Personally I’m not much of a ball-sports guy, but the analogy works.
Here at the Salient Soft Goods Department, we stay pretty busy with client projects on a daily basis, but unfortunately, much of that work cannot be shared with the public. Many of the staff members, including myself, still try to make time to keep our skills sharp through continued practice in personal projects. My most recent project is a classic soft goods item: the backpack. Here are some of the individual steps – lets walk through them together.
1. 
Defining a set of goals, styles, influences and attributes is a great place to start. These items can really help inform the projects direction, feel, and vision; and they can be used as a benchmark for individual questions and construction details later on.
2. A mood board or inspiration sheet allows you to examine different industries, specific materials, and any other items you might feel compelled to draw creativity from.
3. Sketch, sketch, sketch! I chose to focus on angular planes and shapes with rounded aspects dispersed throughout.
4. Define the basic dimensions. This can be done with paper/cardboard or computer programs – if you have access and knowledge.
5. Illustrate, define panels and construction details, pattern, and prepare to start fabrication. Alignment notches are your friends – use them! Patterning is an art in and of itself.
6. Gather materials and hardware. Local sources will have some items and can be a good start point, however, unless you have access to a specialty retailer, the internet might be the easiest place to purchase more technically oriented materials.
7. Cut and prepare materials. Laser cutters are amazingly accurate and fast tools, but good ol’ scissors have served well for many years prior to fancy, modern equipment.
8. Work backwards. Some seams and operations need to be done before others, and there is often a defined sequence that needs to be considered and worked through before sewing can begin.
9. Build. If individual panels or areas did not go as anticipated, they can be rebuilt – you might not need to finish the whole project first. And depending on the situation, you can learn more and push the project forward by learning from your mistakes. Few seams cannot be undone with a seam ripper (even if it is annoying and a step backward).
10. Use the result of all your hard work. First hand observation and testing is the best way to evaluate the overall effectiveness. Is it a good solution to the problem or goal? Evaluate the outcome – the good and bad; what went well, what was tough, what could go better next time – and improve on those aspects!
Document the final results and the process, for yourself and for others. Experiment, modify, and ultimately have fun! Sewing and the world of soft goods is a unique set of skills and knowledge, but the more you practice, the better and quicker projects will move along. Thanks for reading!
-Kirk Turner
Kirk Turner is an Industrial Designer, and has been bringing his brand of expertise to the Salient Team since 2015.
