Flyvines are an innovative and unique solution to fly fishing’s chief environmental hindrance: the fly line. Based out of Missoula, Montana, they recycle used fly line to create lanyards, bracelets, keychains, retainers for sunglasses, and other fly fishing accessories. Each product is hand-braided, using a pattern developed over long Montana winters, and we’ve been lucky enough to get an exclusive interview!
What is Flyvines and how did it start?
– Flyvines started about six years ago, my business partner is an Outfitter, and was looking for a simple lanyard for his clients to use on the Missouri. After picking up some fly line and braiding it, the lanyard was created. For the first year, it was developing the bracelets/lanyard/sunglass retainers and giving samples to the shops and guides to see their feedback.
What inspired you to start making products out of fly lines?
– Fly lines are such a durable product, and when you spend a lot of time in communities such as Craig, MT, you see a ton of it all around. It is strong, colorful, waterproof obviously, and makes for a great product, and on top of that, we are recycling a raw material that was just getting thrown away.
I know all of your products are handmade. How do you keep up with the current demand?
– At Flyvines, every piece of product is handmade, so we had to find a workforce who could create a good quality item, we found that stay at home mom’s was the perfect fit for us. We pay them per piece, so if they have something come up with the kids, they are not feeling the pressure of trying to balance too much, but they tend to take pride in their work and like the extra income that Flyvines provides them. The hardest part, as we grow, is to train folks up and figure out how much product they will most likely be able to produce so that we can figure out how many people we need working. We tend to hire every few months to keep up with the growing demand. We use to have a few down months in Oct/Nov that we could stockpile… but those days are long gone! I and my business partner can still bust out product faster then most if needed!
What are some of your favorite products that you make?
– Well, that is tough, I like them all since I have spent years making them! I would say my all time favorite are our bracelets, they are just an awesome product that everyone seems to love. I have seven on my wrist at the moment. Our new Strand bracelets are a great new item, along with our coasters and dog leashes. The coasters are what I would call a conversation starter, great for a gift for someone who sits at a desk or has a cabin. The dog leashes are awesome because they are super strong, waterproof, and lightweight, perfect to put in a boat or in your pocket. Most of the products we create are based on things we use in our own lives, so it is always fun to see what we come up with.
What is next for Flyvines?
– Flyvines has been growing incredibly fast in the last year, it’s pretty exciting! We have a number of partnerships we are working on for 2019 – there’s going to be some pretty cool new products coming out!
Where can we buy Flyvines?
– You can go to our website www.flyvines.com and order directly through us if you are looking for a certain color combo. I also encourage people to go to their local shops and pick their own out, if your shop doesn’t carry it, make sure you touch base with us so we can work with them. We are also in a number of outdoor stores and everywhere that Chums is sold worldwide!
How can people send in their old fly lines?
– We encourage all of our shops to collect their old fly line as they swap out folks with new stuff! We also tell folks to send it to us at our office, shipping address below, and we send them a piece of product as a thank you gesture! We always want to send a big thank you to the line companies – RIO, SA, Cortland, LOOP, and Monic who recycled their blemished lines – it has allowed us to expand the colors of our product, we simply couldn’t do it without them!
Flyvines
429 S 1st Street W
Missoula, MT 59801
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