Simms x Grateful Dead

This argument is corny at best and intentionally revisionist at worst.

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Let's go back to making fun of embarrassingly expensive fly fishing companies.
 
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This argument is corny at best and intentionally revisionist at worst.

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Let's go back to making fun of embarrassingly expensive fly fishing companies.
Exactly, the list is long and I'm sure the site owner wouldn't appreciate me pointing them all out. You can't rewrite history just because you like their music.

But it's wild stuff to think they weren't, aren't, can't be and won't be political, anti establishment and counter cultural.

Which is what makes the irony pointed out by Cznymph funny.

I look forward to the Collab with the dancing bears and those waders you can pee out of.
 

Jerry Garcia

2016

Looking back on the Grateful Dead's performance at a Black Panther benefit at the Oakland Auditorium on this day in 1971. Although the Dead were for the most part apolitical, Jerry had the following to say of the band’s relationship with the group:

"We have some loose semi-association with the Black Panthers because we met Huey and got along well with him. We don't deal with things on the basis of content, the idea of a philosophy or any of that **** - mostly it's personalities. The show did what it was supposed to do - it made them some bread. But it's not our concern what they're doing or why they're doing it. They have a rhetoric trip going on, but what they're doing is actual, practical things. They've got a free breakfast trip, and they're starting a free shoes thing... We don't have any affiliations with any specific organizations, but if there's a righteous [benefit to play], no matter who's doing it, we'll do it.”
 
Simple fact is Simms see's a market. Dead Head baby boomers who have plenty of disposable income and will happily pay the extra price to have Grateful Dead images on their gear. I am a boomer and a Dead fan, but I'm not paying the difference, but some will. If they have the money and it makes them happy, go for it.
 
Simple fact is Simms see's a market. Dead Head baby boomers who have plenty of disposable income and will happily pay the extra price to have Grateful Dead images on their gear. I am a boomer and a Dead fan, but I'm not paying the difference, but some will. If they have the money and it makes them happy, go for it.
Or someone who works there is just a really big fan and just wanted to pay tribute. It happens. Then those become limited editions and they are "worth" even more.
 
Really funny that the "hippies" have 1k to spend on waders.
 
Or someone who works there is just a really big fan and just wanted to pay tribute. It happens. Then those become limited editions and they are "worth" even more.

The SimmsXDead mashup is nothing but an attempted money grab. Simms has watched other fly fishing brands, big and small, cash in on Dead inspired merch and decided they wanted a piece of that action. I think the big story is why a company with strong branding and image would do this now. They are late to the party and with the company facing some scrutiny from dealers and consumers, it really seems desperate.
 
The SimmsXDead mashup is nothing but an attempted money grab. Simms has watched other fly fishing brands, big and small, cash in on Dead inspired merch and decided they wanted a piece of that action. I think the big story is why a company with strong branding and image would do this now. They are late to the party and with the company facing some scrutiny from dealers and consumers, it really seems desperate.
We will soon look back at Simms as an example of how fast a company that was king of their respective hill can crash and burn to ashes.
 
I don't get what all the hoopla is about. If you think Simms merchandise, with or without the Dead marketing, is too expensive, just don't buy it. It's really that simple. What future is there in beating them up over their marketing practices? Buy Orvis or another brand, and let it go. Life's too short.

The Grateful Dead legacy isn't going anywhere, regardless of efforts to diminish it.
 
Phishing Waders
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I think it's more about the Simms legacy being diminished than the Deads.

Sure, we can say if you don't like it don't buy it, wipe our hands if it and walk away.
We can let them cash in on unsuspecting consumers who are otherwise ignorant to Simms current situation too.

Or we can call it out for what it is. Simms is making inferior products lately and are "dead on the water" if they don't do something. That something isn't slapping a dead patch in a pair of poorly made waders. In fact, if anything, it's crappy to the fans of the Dead that their name is attached to such garbage.

All these things can be true:

-The Grateful Dead are a great band
-Simms used to make superior waders
-A Simms/ Dead Collab could be ok, if it wasn't put on absolutely garbage selling it as cool and useful
-Simms needs to focus on fixing quality issues, not fancy marketing to take advantage of consumers.
-Dead on the water is not only a poor choice of words for a struggling company, it's a pretty crappy slogan for waders. What's next? A dead on the water pfd?
-Consumers should call it out for what it is. Either through mocking it or warning others.

I look forward to reviews of nugs ruined by leaking waders or the guy that had a quarter sheet absorbed through his skin and is now being fed by an orange under a locked door.
 
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