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Ardent Reels: USA All The Way
Submitted By:
Tony Hansen
Mike Brooks loves this country. Loves it enough, in fact, that he’s willing to do what many companies in the fishing industry are not.
"Can I take my products overseas and increase my bottom line? Absolutely," he said. "But I can’t do that and sleep at night. The American sportsman is very sensitive to what’s going on in this country. Given the state of the American economy, I think the right thing to do is create U.S. jobs, U.S. products that are price-competitive and performance-competitive. We, as a country, sacrificed that benefit to the American sportsman years ago. At Ardent, we intend to do our part to bring that back."
Ardent is a different kind of fishing company. The company manufactures some of the best reels and fishing gear maintenance products in the world - and they make them all right here in the United States. That’s not something that happened by accident. It’s the mission of the company.
"We wanted to produce a product that was very competitive in the market in both price and performance. But we absolutely insisted that those products be made and assembled in the U.S.A.," said Brooks. "We just felt like we could do something that we feel is a responsibility to our country and that’s to allow sportsmen the opportunity to buy U.S.-made product that’s truly competitive in price and performance."
The vast majority of fishing rods and reels are manufactured in China and Japan where labor is cheap. The markup on such products is impressive, the bottom line lucrative. When Brooks set out to create Ardent in 2003, to say his business plan raised a few eyebrows would be an understatement.
"Everybody said we were crazy. People felt that we wouldn’t be able to engineer, design and manufacture a performance-competitive product. Everyone told us that the Chinese and Japanese make the best reels. They said that even if we could design a competitive product, we couldn’t match the pricing," Brooks said. "We felt incredibly motivated to prove those people wrong."
And prove them wrong they did. Ardent reels are now revered as some of the very best products on the water. In fact, professional angler Alton Jones won the 2008 BASSMaster Classic using Ardent Reels - and he was not on the Ardent ProStaff.
"We really just set out to do things we’ve done as a country for centuries - and that’s make some of the finest products in the world," Brooks said.
That commitment to the U.S. is what attracted Brooks to the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance. He is proud to offer union members who share Ardent’s belief in U.S.-made products and passion for the outdoors with a special holiday offer. USA members who purchase select Ardent reels before Dec. 31 will receive their choice of a SmartCull, Reel Kleen Cleaning Kit or Professional Parts Cleaning System along with a free Ardent hat.
"The partnership between Ardent and the USA makes perfect sense," said Brooks. "We just wanted to do something to show the American worker that we appreciate them."
Ardent manufactures reels for freshwater fishing. They have a range of baitcasting and spinning models. The company also makes a line of maintenance lubricants and cleaners that are second to none. They also happen to be another story of true American ingenuity.
"We back our reels with a 3-year warranty. That’s unheard of in the fishing industry. We do it because we believe in our products," Brooks said. "We developed our line of maintenance lubricants and cleaners out of necessity. We needed something that was designed specifically for fishing applications to use on new reels and there was nothing that satisfied us. Well, if you think about it, the things we were experiencing are the same that the consumer faces. So we developed the line of products so the American sportsman would have tremendous products for cleaning and lubricating their reels."
The fishing industry is certainly not immune to the economic downturn facing our country. But Ardent has experienced tremendous growth in sales, a fact that is proof positive that American anglers respond to the Made in the U.S.A. label.
"That’s not just BS to me. This is what I believe in," Brooks said. "I don’t know what the percentage of American sportsman is that care about their products being made in the U.S.A., but it’s significant. Our sales and feedback from customers and dealers proves that. We’re not trying to do anything special here. We’re just doing what we think is the right thing to do for our country."
Click HERE to take advantage of Ardent’s special holiday offer for USA members.
