THE STRIKER STORY

The Striker brand was born in the snowmobile industry in 2005 by a Minnesota company making a myriad of products from performance traction products for snowmobiles to auto-darkening welding helmets. The Striker name was conjured up to emulate a “snake strike” to coincide with a company-wide marketing program. The brand was originally developed to provide premium technical apparel for snowmobilers until 2010, when the focus of the brand shifted. Utilizing decades of experience and inspiration from snowmobile apparel technologies, Striker Brands LLC was formed in early 2011 with a goal to bring quality apparel ice anglers everywhere. The Striker brand concept and its initial product line were conceived by Jim Poucher, and Jim is still overseeing the brand as owner and president today.

REDEFINING FISHING APPAREL

The first launch of ice fishing outerwear took place in 2010 with a non-float suit. Soon after In 2011, Striker introduced its “full-feature” Lite and Heavy suits, both including Sureflote® flotation assist built into the lining. The only ice fishing specific outerwear options available at that time were offered by ice fishing shelter and equipment companies (who knew practically nothing about building apparel). Most of these suits were intended to promote their respective equipment brands and virtually all fell far short on performance. Striker’s innovation has catapulted the Striker brand as the undisputed leader in the ice fishing apparel business. Striker introduced the first premium ice fishing suits with performance waterproof/breathable shells, flotation linings, adjustable inseams and other proprietary features, and we aren’t stopping there.

THE STRIKER COMMITMENT

At Striker Brands, our core design philosophy has always been to build the best possible technical apparel without regard to what the industry might think. Our tag line, “Go Early, Go Late, Go Prepared”, encompasses our mission. The philosophy to only offer the best performing apparel possible transcends to our complete line of fishing apparel products including ice fishing apparel, high performance rainwear, UPF apparel, and casual wear lines. We work diligently to enhance the complete fishing experience, whether-or-not the fish are biting. For us, its more about lifestyle than lunkers. We aim to continue to provide innovative products to our customers at the best-possible prices to allow sportsmen and their families to ward off the elements during each and every outing.

BEHIND THE BRAND

The strength of the Striker brand is clearly our people. This includes our hard-working employees, our dedicated pro-staff team, our technology development partners, and our sales representatives, not to mention our many retailers. To maintain our top position in the industry it takes a dedicated team and a solid commitment to our valued retailers. Key management personnel include some of the best in the business - that is, in the technical apparel business. Our biggest problem is keeping up with demand, but we would rather sacrifice quantity than quality, so we frequently sell out of core products every single year as we continue to grow.

A MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER

Above all, I would like to thank our loyal customers for supporting our brand as we continue to grow and develop even more innovative products. We like to be different from our competitors and people wearing our brand seem to agree. With Copy Cat knock-off’s popping up from everywhere, the Striker brand continues to expand at breakneck speed. Our company doubled in size yet again last year, and there seems to be no end to our rapid growth in sight. We are strictly an apparel company, and anyone believing that innovative technical apparel can come from a tackle or shelter company is unaware of the exhaustive design work involved in producing high end specialty apparel. We could not accomplish this without an emphasis on people and product, as opposed to ubiquitous marketing promotions and looking only to the bottom line. The numerous life-saving testimonials from our valued customers mean much more to us than sales or profit margins. It is exactly that grassroots connection that has elevated the Striker brand. I have started many businesses over the years, one of which even went public, but none of these have provided the satisfaction that Striker Brands LLC has, due to the enthusiasm shared by our customers.
- Jim Poucher, President