The Upstream™ collection is built from retired waders—rugged, waterproof fabrics repurposed into things that are made to keep going. It’s gear built from gear. Durable, functional, and one of a kind.
If waders could talk, they’d have stories to tell—miles of bushwhacking and river crossings, long days in cold water, fish netted and released, and countless other memories. When they’re finally done keeping us dry, most sadly end up in the trash. We think they deserve better.
The materials that we all appreciate for their waterproofness and durability can’t be recycled conventionally and the multi-layer lamination makes them impossible to separate into raw materials. Once they end up in the landfill, the synthetic materials (nylon, polyester, and PU membranes) take hundreds of years to break down. As they slowly degrade, they release microplastics and volatile compounds into soil and water. The good news? These same qualities are what make them perfect for reuse and upcycling (that's where the name Upstream™ comes from).
Our friends at Redington and Anglers All provided us with pairs of waders that were one step away from the dumpster. We removed the straps and neoprene booties from each pair and had them professionally cleaned. Next, we brought them to our sewing facility in Lafayette, CO—just a few miles from our headquarters—where each pair was marked by hand with a grease pencil to identify the useful sections of material. We wanted to avoid using any stained, ripped, or excessively dirty material.
We worked with our manufacturer to identify the products from our existing gear lineup that would result in the greatest yield from the material. Patterns for each of these products were laid out like puzzle pieces on the broken down panels of wader material and prepped for the sewers. From there, the process was almost identical to using our normal production materials, with the main difference being that each Upstream™ product comes off the line as a completely one of a kind piece of gear, given the unique mixture of wader materials used to make it.
