ELY — A new outdoor gear retailer will open its doors Saturday at 125 Central Avenue, offering canoes, snowshoes, and other gear made by a La Crosse, Wis. company with an unusual backstory. Its workforce includes a significant number of employees with disabilities, and it manufactures the U.S. Navy’s iconic Dixie Cup hat.
Tyler Sutter, who will manage the Red Feather Outdoors store, outlined the company’s history and product line Tuesday at Ely’s weekly Tuesday Group gathering, fielding questions about how the store fits into a town already well-served by outdoor outfitters.
Red Feather is a brand of ORC Industries, a La Crosse-based company founded in 1966 with a mission to provide employment for people with disabilities.
The company has manufactured military gear since the 1970s and expanded into the outdoor industry in 2006 when it acquired Red Feather Snowshoes and Bell Canoe. Canoe production under the Bell name stopped in 2011, but the company has since relaunched composite canoe manufacturing under the Red Feather name, using many of the original Bell molds, some of which were designed by well-known canoe designer David Yost.
Sutter, a six-year Ely resident who previously worked at Piragis Northwoods Company, said the canoes are built using a vacuum infusion process he described as both superior to older methods and better for workers.
“The vacuum does all the resin work, and the VOCs are contained inside the vacuum bag, so there’s nothing gassing off in a builder’s face,” he said. “It is just way better for the people building the canoes.”
Andrew Vittone, ORC’s director of sales and marketing, said the decision to restart canoe production under the Red Feather name rather than reviving the Bell brand came after months of market research. He vowed early on that the boats would not be yellow, a color common among competitors, and introduced red composite fabrics and carbon fiber materials to differentiate the line. The boats range in length from 12 to 20 feet.
When asked whether the new store would compete with established Ely outfitters such as Piragis, Vittone said the company is not trying to undercut existing retailers on shared products.
“We’re not going to try to sell the same things for the same price or undercut it by a dollar,” he said. “We’re looking for more unique things, and also things that we can make ourselves.”
Vittone acknowledged that breaking into the retail canoe market had been difficult. Many shops are loyal to existing brands, he said, which is part of what pushed the company toward opening its own storefront.
“What better way to get people out in those boats trying them than opening a store in a town where there’s a canoe on top of every car?” he said.
One audience member asked whether Ely might be designated the canoe capital of the world, a title they noted a Wisconsin community had claimed for itself.
Sutter said he would look into it.
The store at 125 Central Ave., next to Ely Surplus, will carry canoes, snowshoes, pulk sleds, and outdoor apparel. Sutter said parts for older Red Feather snowshoes will also be available, a question he said several Ely residents had already raised with him.