Linda Leary grew up in Maine, where she learned the art of fly fishing. However, she explained to Outside that she had to borrow long johns from her dad and brother and wear “black and grey boxy clothing” because there was a lack of women’s fishing apparel. After college, Leary moved to Alaska and worked at a trucking company called Carlile Transportation Systems, where she often took groups of clients fly fishing and always made sure to include women leaders. In an interview with Google, she explained how the same issue persisted, “Standing around in our waders, the conversation would often turn to what we were wearing underneath—more often than not, hand-me-downs from our husbands or dads that were bulky and uncomfortable. It struck me that there was a real opportunity to create something better for women.”
In 2015, Leary sought to solve the problem herself. She bought a book on manufacturing, put sticky notes all over her walls, and founded FisheWear in Anchorage. Six months later, the company was selling its first products. The company continues to design and test its products in Alaska, and as of 2023, operates a storefront in downtown Anchorage. “From glacier-fed rivers to coastal tides, our gear is born in the rugged beauty of Alaska,” the company says.
Photo Courtesy FisheWear
FisheWear dreams of “a world where every woman feels at home on the river,” with the goal of helping each woman “create your best day outside—again and again.” The company fills a huge market gap: there are more than 20 million female anglers in the U.S.who need gear to participate in the activities they love. “There are female anglers out there. There always have been,” Leary stated. FisheWear wants its gear to be both inclusive and empowering, promoting women’s confidence as they fish, hike, and explore the outdoors. “Just like in the business world: how you dress matters in the way that you feel,” she said to Outside. “Crafted by women, for women,” the business therefore focuses on fit and function first, primed for both movement and endurance, and then adds its unique designs.
“Rooted in Alaska and inspired by water,” FisheWear is powered “by passion, art, and a love for wild places.” The company explains, “The river and outdoors is our happy place, and it shows. FisheWear celebrates the rush of a perfect mend, the chatter in a drift boat, and the quiet of a dawn wade—with prints and products that carry that joy into every day.” This is visible in many of the company’s prints. For example, for the HaliBorealis the company “wove the fish’s powerful silhouette into the rugged outline of Alaska’s mountains, pairing it with the flowing, ethereal movement of the Northern Lights… The name is a playful nod to the Aurora Borealis, capturing both the wonder of our long summer nights and the bold, untamed energy of Alaska itself.”
Photo Courtesy FisheWear
Many of these designs are developed in collaboration with local female artists. In 2022, then-high school senior Gigi Droop from Anchorage designed a halibut sticker for the company. “The beauty of her home state is also a big inspiration for Gigi. Drawing on the hues of the dark yet divine winter months in Alaska, her art often features deep blues and purples,” FisheWear wrote.
Aligned with its design themes, FisheWear also promises to be “respectful of the waters that shape us” and to make choices that “protect the resource and the people who love it.” To reach these promises, FisheWear hosts events to support Trout Unlimited, which works to protect watersheds. These events include Speed Dating for Fishing, “where we set up stations and participants can learn different aspects of fly fishing in 15-minute increments. At the end of the night, all the proceeds go to support Trout Unlimited here in Alaska,” Leary described to Authority Magazine.
Photo Courtesy FisheWear
Last October, meanwhile, FisheWear donated 20% of the proceeds from the Radiant Redfish collection to Casting for Recovery, an organization that provides free oncology-informed fly fishing retreats for women affected by breast cancer, which “connect women to each other and to nature using the therapeutic sport of fly fishing.”
Many of Fishewear’s products are also environmentally friendly. The company makes its Ravine skorts and shorts, for example, from recycled polyester. Each Charvana Fishe x Rumpl blanket, meanwhile, is made out of 60 plastic bottles.
Photo Courtesy FisheWear
At the end of the day, FisheWear is all about community. As FisheWear says, “Stronger together—on and off the water. When one of us lands a fish, we all cheer. Fishe is a crew: makers, guides, weekend warriors, first‑casters. We share beta, pass along skills, and open doors so more women feel at home outside. Show up how you are—we’ve saved you a spot on the bank.”
Video Courtesy FisheWear Fun and Functional Fishing Fashion
