There are exceptions, but the fact is that many of the flies sold in American fly shops are made by people in developing countries. No one’s yet invented machines that can make flies, so they are tied by hand – and paying Americans to make flies by hand doesn’t make good business sense.

Industry experts agree that the top names in the wholesale fly trade do all they can to ensure decent wages and working conditions for the people in their Asian and African fly factories.


But they also agree that sweatshops do exist, and that companies who sell flies for extremely low prices – usually well under a dollar apiece – are cutting corners on the production end.

Enter Jeff Coffey’s new company, Fair Flies. Coffey, of Oregon, hopes to capitalize on the same consumer ethos that leads shoppers to choose things like ethically sourced coffee: the promise that people in the developing world who make the products are well paid and work in good conditions.

Fair Trade is a tiny operation compared to the established brands – 20 people working in two companies near Nairobi, Kenya. Naturally, Coffey hopes to grow the business. Still, he considers the initial effort to be significant.

“We’re working with people that need a way to make a living,” Coffey told Angling Trade magazine. “They’re dying, literally, to make a living. And we’re passionate about flies. I’ve got 20 people right now that we’re making a difference for, and that’s OK.”

Fair Trade Flies pays its tiers about $300 a week, at an average of 45 to 60 cents per fly, Coffey says.

That’s relatively good money in a country where the gross national income per capita is $2,780 per year. (In the United States, it’s $53,750.)

Coffey expected a negative reaction to his contention that many commercially sold flies are the product of exploitive working conditions. Instead, “the response has been incredibly positive,” he said. “I really anticipated some pushback somewhere. But the Rainy’s rep even called me and said, ‘good job.’”

Retail sales of flies are an $82 million-a-year business, according to the American Fly Fishing Trade Association.  (accounting for more sales at small and medium retailers than rods, reels, lines, waders or other fly-fishing gear.)

Overseas fly factories got going in a serious way in the 1980s. Umpqua Feather Merchants led the way with its factory in Thailand. Umpqua’s director of systems development, Daniel Eisenmenger, said the company takes its tiers’ welfare seriously.

“In every one of our factories, every facility is air conditioned,” he said – both to keep the workplace comfortable and to avoid having to use fans, which are problematic for a business built on feathers. “Our factories have always paid people at least the minimum wage; traditionally it’s more than that. And we have incentive programs where people can make considerably more than that.”

Umpqua’s manufacturing company, Thai-A-Fly, and its employees contribute to a social welfare fund that covers their health care, he said. They get paid time off for government-designated holidays, as well as paid personal and vacation days, though fewer than the typical American worker.

But while Umpqua and other top-tier companies do right by their workers, Eisenmenger said he agrees with Jeff Coffey that exploitive fly factories still exist.

“Any fly for 99 cents, I would tend to say, yes, it’s likely that it came from an exploited workforce,” he said. “Not only that, they’re also very likely using very cheap materials, and they’re probably also avoiding things like excise tax and maybe even import duties. The 99-cent and cheaper flies, that’s an extreme. I would tend to agree with the gentleman from Fair Flies.”

Coffey has been a fly-fishing and whitewater rafting guide and been involved with a software start-up. When he set out to build a whole-family-oriented guiding and outfitting service, “I was faced with the dilemma of who’s my fly supplier going to be,” he said.

A friend with connections in the African business community helped Coffey learn the lay of the land. Last year, Coffey set up the business and left the outfitting service to go full-time with Fair Flies.

Along with the appealing to fly-buyers’ altruism, Fair Flies takes another unconventional tack: subscriptions. Fair Trade customers can order as few as a dozen trout flies twice a year for $25 each time, or as many as two dozen each month for $45. Flies can also be purchased individually.

Coffee says he’s not out to disparage other fly suppliers, or even to abolish fly sweatshops. He simply wants to give customers a chance to do something positive with their purchasing power.

“We know the sweatshops exist, and they’re in business for a reason,” he said. “Our flies are changing people’s lives.”