I'm not up to breathing dust in the attic, or going far down that road, but it would be interesting to read the take on Fisher in Fly Fisherman and in blank availability in supply catalogs like Kaufman's Streamborn. I don't even want to lug them downstairs right now. I think the industry was changing so fast there were a lot of takes on Fisher's closure but don't recall details of any one article or ad or catalog listing. Me and a few fishing partners, well, we didn't miss them only because we had the 'glass and graphite models we wanted. Two of them have passed on now, and I never did get in the attics to see if there was a stray Phillipson or Fisher blank up there. That would have been disrespectful unless I were invited by the heirs, but the ones I knew best had passed as well.
By the time period being discussed here, 'glass had gone down the road anyhow, along with early graphite types. Trade customers were still there--Eddie Bauer, LL Bean, and so on, but more and more in-house production was being set up by other makers, not to mention overseas production for sale by its own name or custom labled.
Fast and furious, newest, latest and greatest--with tech support to get the operation using IMX graphite up and running. Potential customers for Fisher OEM rods had this to take into account for price point and latest and greatest retail customers.
Different from the prime Fisher years of refinement and high QC production. If the owner had a successful business making fine stuff all those years, and his life had run a fulfilling course, I could see why the closure could would be as simple as letting the business do the same.
Remembering the prime topic of this thread--3m and Phillipson--perhaps there is a parallel in life cycle for Bill Phillipson and the stages of the brand. If you don't have the right people at the right time to take over, a generation or two is a darn good run, and stuff winds up in the attic or changes retain its character for a while, if not its form.
On the Phillipson to 3M, I guess I'm not sure there is much history mystery, except routine business change. Phillipson already did business with 3M, so they would be a natural for someone looking to shed a company that might outlive him. Passing an operation on in the same form doesn't happen often, even if just to family. I've known small, successful businesses transformed--to failure or greater success--even when a reluctant family group takes over or when the owner stays on for some contract-specified time period after the sale. Others who have seen the same quite logically decide to sell for a good offer and close the door.
In the case of Phillipson, Rick's Rods, as far as I know, still owns the trademark. That transaction could be traced at the US patent office. Evidently the "good will" associated with it was valuable, but not enough for 3M to keep it. They had other development efforts going as well.
Rick's might be the best source of info on that part of the change. I don't think they give out info for free, and they are entitled to do so at their discretion. A private business doesn't need to tell all, but if they don't, that doesn't mean any mystery is involved.
Last I looked, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3m) had good history on its own website (or SA did) about the origins of the Leisure products division, a gesture to some employees who liked to fish.
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