Built Better
“At Chêne Gear, we are obsessed with two things: ducks and waders that don’t leak…and while we can’t guarantee you a limit of mallards, we can guarantee you’ll have dry feet.”
Over the years, duck hunters have been conditioned to accept the premise “all waders leak”. It has become a given constant; an inevitable occurrence amongst those of us who passionately pursue waterfowl and the lifestyle accompanying this pursuit. When and why did we become content with waders that only last a season or two? There is no other critical component in the duck hunter’s toolbox for which we accept such a low standard. Can you imagine accepting a shotgun that only lasts one season? We can’t either.
Chêne Gear was born out of a desire to build a better wader. We believed we could build better waders by refusing to accept the premise “all waders leak”. We wanted to build waders that met the same expectations we have for all our other essential duck hunting equipment such as boats, guns and shells. Our expectations were not some lofty ideals or unreachable goals; they were not complex. We wanted waders that don’t leak. That’s it. It’s that simple, and that’s exactly what we set out to build.
After a few years of talking about it in the duck woods, inevitably with wet feet, we decided it was time to build better waders. The end product is a completely reimagined pair of waders designed with only one constant in mind…build the best pair of hunting waders ever made. We weren’t concerned with costs, margins, or even how to sell these waders. We simply wanted to build a better tool for our personal toolbox - a reliable pair of waders. We believed that if we built waders capable of weathering the rigors of our year-round use, others might ask to purchase a pair…or they wouldn’t. You see, we did not build these waders to sell to the market. We built these waders to pursue our passions with reliably dry feet. We didn’t care what it cost to build them, and we didn’t add any gimmicky features that sound good in a sales pitch. We built these waders to be everything we needed and nothing more.
Chêne Gear did not happen overnight. One could say we have been product testing for several decades. We are not hunters who wear our waders for a few days during duck season before tossing them aside until the following fall. We live and work in our waders throughout the offseason- obsessing over conservation and habitat development. Our world revolves around ducks, and the pursuit for a few perfect moments afield. Like countless other duck hunters, when we consider the most lived joys in life, our minds are inevitably drawn to the duck woods. We tirelessly endeavor to recreate those rare experiences.... those few perfect moments when a group of mallards banks into the breeze over a sunlit hole in the woods, spreads their wings and flutters down into the decoys. For it is in those few moments, surrounded by family and friends, that all is right in the world.
Chêne Gear was created to help us better pursue that passion. While we have hunted waterfowl from the high prairies of Saskatchewan to the marshes of Louisiana and everywhere in between, there is no place we’d rather be than in shin deep water- leaning up against a beautiful old oak tree in the flooded timber; or as we like to say “Home.” When one begins to understand where we come from it becomes apparent why we were compelled to build a better tool.
At Chêne Gear, we set out to create waders that are #BuiltBetter.