Behind the Scenes: Fishe x Rumpl Collaboration

What’s better than going fishing? Fishing with friends of course! A day on the river is only made better by a pal to help net your catch and take your optimally angled fish photo. Here at Fishe we believe in fishing with friends, and in doing business with them too. You already know and love our collaborations with our friends over at Xtratuf, Orvis, and Groove. For our latest collab, we sure reeled in a whopper… Last week we released our Rumpl x Fishe Blankets. Here’s a quick story from Fishe team member Tica Drury about how the collab came to life. 

Collaborations seem to be all the rage in the outdoor industry these days… But how do they actually come to be? Our dazzling tale of collaboration begins with a riveting seed: an email. An out-of-the-blue, cold email no less. Way back in the winter of 2021, as a part of my job as a Marketing Assistant for Fishe Wear, I shot an arguably rouge email to Rumpl Blankets pitching a collaboration. 

Fishe, while well known up in Alaska, is still a burgeoning brand in the Lower 48. Rumpl on the other hand, is a widely recognized outdoor brand with a national presence. Rumpl’s list of past collaboration partners is austere: from the National Parks Service to NASA, from Carhartt to Collegiate sports teams. When I fired off my pitch to Rumpl, I wasn’t all that confident that I would hear back; they call it “fishing, not catching” after all… 

To my happy surprise, the photoshopped image I sent over of a Fishe print on a Rumpl blanket caught the eye of a Rumpl employee. Perhaps I should’ve known. Rumpl’s mission is to craft functional blankets that celebrate art and color. Sound familiar? While we make a different category of outdoor goods here at Fishe, FUNctional products adorned in bright colors are our bread and butter. 

Now that we had our foot in the door, it was time to get down to business. It turns out a whole lot of work goes into a collab! As such a big company, Rumpl plans their production and marketing calendars out many months in advance. Our first task was one of the more fun ones; pick the print! We met with our friends over at Rumpl to discuss which of the many Fishe patterns would resonate best with their customer base. Considering they do most of their business in the Western 48 States, we landed on Mt. Cutty - Cutthroat Trout. The beautiful colors and mountain details in this print put it high on the list for a blanket. What really sealed the deal however was the fact that Cutthroat Trout is one of the most celebrated fish species by folks who fish in the Rocky Mountain West; the home of Rumpl’s target customers.

From there, we handed the vast majority of the production side over to Rumpl. We provided the art, they provided the blankets. Over an entire calendar year after I sent my original pitch inquiry email, the Rumpl x Fishe blankets finally arrived on the doorstep of our warehouse in Anchorage, Alaska. Our tiny but mighty team at Fishe was awe-inspired by the professionalism and collaborative spirit of the folks at Rumpl. We worked hard on this project and are over the moon to be able to share it with YOU! Head over to our website to grab your Mt. Cutty Rumpl Blanket before they’re gone!