Style

Hunting Gear = Winter Wear

by Karenke4 | December 11, 2008 at 05:18 pm

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Where should you to for the latest winter fashion gear? You local hunting supply store, of course.

Fashion designers are not exactly itching to create winter wear. Let's face it, winter wear itself is often itchy. Parkas are bulky and don't exactly accentuate those shapeless figures on the runway. Long underwear is exactly that, under- wear, and flannel lined trousers went out with the pleated pants they lined.

But this year why not reclaim warm, in the form of Gor-Tex, fur lined hats and suspenders? Hunting and fishing outlets have been supplying rough and ready winter gear for the fashion unconscious for years. Seasoned fishermen have survived hours in the cold and wet, as comfy and warm as a bear in hibernation. Now you can too.

And with the dramatic decline in the number of sportsmen in the last 20 years, outdoor sports gear may just be rare enough to be trendy.

While the aesthetic of hunting and fishing gains popularity, the practice is in apparent decline. From 1987 to 2003, the number of hunters in the U.S. plummeted from 25.2 million to 15.2 million – a 40 per cent drop, according to American Sports Data Inc.

In Canada, where stats are less available, hunting is still a controversial activity, the Canadian Tourism Commission reported in 2005.

What's popular? Bloodless bull fighting in Portugal, paintball and clay shooting, the warm and fuzzy catch-and-release fishing.

Italy's leading gun maker, Beretta, is having great success with its 1526 clothing collection, designed to attract cool urbanites hankering for the hunting/shooting look. The posh fashions produced by Holland & Holland, the famous British gun maker, are also capturing attention.