Ryan Barnes for SPLIT REED
In today’s world, there seem to be more and more ways to try and find new camo and hunting gear to use out in the field. Whether that be direct to consumers from the company, or by making a trip to the big box stores to go and try to find what you like. The problem is, you may not always like selection, or, you may prefer some of the older, discontinued patterns of camo that a company used to have. That’s the joy of being able to go online and search for the patterns and gear you would like to own. Unfortunately, that can prove to be a problem of its own. Sorting through thousands of different posts, listings, and ads can be difficult. Luckily, Logan J. Webster came along and formed a way to expedite the process, making it simpler, easier, and better to find what you’re looking for. That way is called “Camoretro”. A company that he runs that allows you to find anything from old camo clothes to hunt in, to vintage Ducks Unlimited hats you might wear while you’re out scouting for your next hunt. We had the chance to sit down with Logan to get the story on Camoretro, and possibly help you find some cool gear (or even sell some of your old stuff) before this coming season.
Logan says that he was born into the world of hunting. It was something that he grew up around. “My father, Warren, and other role models like my uncles had me out in the woods at a pretty young age. Be it deer hunting or chasing ducks, I was out doing something in the woods. It was a culture I was born into” says Webster, “it was normal to me since the beginning”. As Logan got older and went off to college, he’s proud to say he only ever missed one duck season, while working steadily through his education. He held a job with Razorback Athletics as a media contractor at the University of Arkansas. Webster mentions that while working in the fall for a football team in the SEC, you’re not given much time for your own personal life. After his time there, he found himself working a corporate gig for Tyson Foods. After having worked in the corporate world for a while, Logan mentions that he had a passion for hunting, and wanted to apply his talents and abilities where it would be more meaningful to him. “I really wanted to apply my talents and skills to the hunting industry, at more of a commercial capacity,”
Duck hunting is a passion for Webster. He says that’s where he spends most of his free time in the fall. He does love to deer hunt, but he calls himself a “discouraged deer hunter” because his father has set the bar so high, being such a successful deer hunter himself. He also mentions that he’s very much so into fishing. “Between school, working all through college, and immediately after college going to work in the corporate world for five years, hunting, unfortunately, became something I could only do if it was convenient. Luckily duck hunting allowed me to kill two birds with one stone. I was able to get a break from work, and spend some time with friends and family”. Logan says that he still does spend some time out chasing deer, especially now that his job allows him more freedom to do so.
That first leap into the outdoor industry started out as an apparel blog. Looking through his closet, and his father’s closet for old pieces of hunting clothing, and writing about old, discontinued hunting camo. “I guess people liked my writing at least, okay, I guess (laughs). I got a few notes from people telling me they liked the writing, but more than anything people just wanted to buy the stuff. So in my mind, I saw this as a way to elevate the history and legacy of the hunting industry”. And so started the roots of what would become Camoretro. Logan realized that if people were looking for a way to buy old, discontinued, and vintage camo, this could work as a channel to solve that problem. He ended up taking his blog and turned it into a marketplace. Still writing product reviews, but allowing customers to then buy the products he had written and posted about. “I saw a need in the industry for a marketplace for people to buy and sell gear and goods. It obviously started with vintage hunting apparel, and that’s what Camoretro was, and still is- a place where you can buy and sell vintage hunting apparel”. While there are places like eBay, Poshmark, and other places to buy and sell, Camoretro allows you to filter out what you don’t want, search for what you do, and even email Logan to keep an eye out for what you specifically are looking for. Customer service doesn’t get any better than that.
Camoretro is specifically for people who are looking for functional outdoor gear. You can buy home goods, like paintings and other miscellaneous items, but the bulk of what you see on the website will be vintage clothing that will still work in the field today. The best part is- you won’t have to scroll through pages and pages of unwanted items to hopefully find what you may be looking for. There is a filter system that helps you find exactly what you’re looking for, in a certain camo pattern, so long as it’s currently available. “The running joke is that if you go to ebay and type in ‘camo’, you get bikinis and flip-flops, and on Camoretro you’re getting the gear you want as a passionate outdoorsman,” Webster says.
However, while Camoretro was centered around buying and selling vintage gear, that doesn’t mean that you can’t come across the newer stuff. Logan mentions that, at first, he wanted to keep it as a “vintage only” marketplace, but after some conversation with friends and family, and a priority of increasing accessibility to outdoor gear, he decided to open it up to the newer lines of camo as well. Webster mentions that every once in a while you will see Sitka items or comparable items on the site. They aren’t up for long, because they get purchased quickly, but they do get posted and sold.
Another perk of Camoretro is that it is a second-hand market- which means, typically, it’s more affordable than buying items at retail. Which gives hunters who are looking to get into the game a more affordable means of finding new hunting gear to use, as well as seasoned vets a chance to buy old gear they may have loved and lost, at a more affordable price. “It gives people the chance to take the old gear that they aren’t using, and get it back into the hunting community, and give it a new breath, and make a little bit of money while they do it,” says Logan. It’s also serving as a great way to get money working and flowing into the hunting industry. It helps someone use gear that would otherwise be collecting dust, and in turn help the seller put money in their pocket, to turn around and then spend on their own hunting costs. Serving as a boost to the hunting industry on both the buyer and seller’s end. Working almost as a “two-way street” to help both buyer and seller stimulate the hunting industry, instead of just buying from the big box stores. Logan notes, “I want Camoretro to make sense for everybody, and I want to reinvigorate the industry through a marketplace”.
Webster says that he considers himself lucky to be able to marry together his career and his passion. Especially one that he knows so well. “I grew up hunting in a lot of my dad’s clothes, even if it was too big for me. I remember looking at those labels from a young age and looking at those patterns. I didn’t always have the latest gear to hunt in, I just had a lot of hand-me-downs from my dad. I realize now that was the best gear I could have ever wanted”.
When asked if it was a bit nerve-racking to go from the corporate world and dive into Camoretro full time, Logan says that it absolutely was. With lots of question marks floating around. It is a retail job, and it’s also seasonal. Luckily for Logan, he still has plenty of people buying and selling on his website, with new products loaded on every day. “It was certainly nerve-racking to give up a fixed income and lean into something I believe in”, but at the end of the day, bills are being paid, gear is being bought and sold, and Camoretro is growing on a daily basis.
In regards to the hottest selling items on the website, Webster says that the original Mossy Oak products never stick around for too long. Those items usually are purchased rather quickly. He also says that some of your more technical gear goes rather quickly as well. Noting that people jump at the chance to buy those products anytime they’re listed below sticker price. Hats are also a hot item, both in season and during the off-season. “Some of the vintage Ducks Unlimited stuff does really well. It’s pretty surprising what some of it can go for”. This Spring, Logan ran an auction series for about two months each Friday, where he would sell a vintage hat that either he had found, or one of the sellers had listed. The prices that were paid for some of those hats were rather staggering. “The most notable was a Ducks Unlimited Wall Street edition hat from 1997 that had a little mallard on it with a martini glass, and that hat went for $380!”. Clearly proving that the demand for vintage goods from the hunting industry is there, and people are willing to pay to get it.
It isn’t just vintage clothing and gear though, “anything that makes sense to ship”, says Logan, can be sold on Camoretro. Noting that he’s seen anything from old DU prints, to custom carved decoys sold on the website. While they don’t have an FFL, so guns and ammo are out of the mix, if you can ship it, and it pertains to the world of hunting, it can be sold on Camoretro. The camo also isn’t just limited to one side of the hunting world. Logan does want it to be more diversified in the market to sell to. From waterfowl hunters to big game hunters.
One of the many perks of selling on Camoretro is your items will get more exposure to customers than they would on other platforms. You won’t have to worry about ‘nobody being able to see what it is you’re offering for sale’. If you post it, and someone wants it, they won’t have any trouble finding it. Logan also offers very competitive commission rates to those who sell on Camoretro, allowing the sellers to have more profitability from the products they list. It also works great for the seller as well, because you don’t have to worry about fees, or paying for the services used. Simply the payment for the product, and you’re on your way. As a buyer, you also don’t have to worry about getting the “runaround”. Once you make the purchase, it’s secured, and Camoretro will ensure everything is taken care of to get your product to you without any hassle. A nice breath of fresh air from other marketplace problems that buyers can run into. It’s a very straightforward way to buy a product you want.
In 2020 Camoretro’s marketplace has yet to offer below 600 unique items at any given time, with new products being bought and sold every day. Webster also is working on an app that allows his users to have instant access to see what new products are listed, and even be notified if certain products they’re searching for are posted for sale. He also is working on implementing a wallet system for customers to use on the website. This would allow users to keep an account balance from either sale made, or a balance loaded into the account to then use for any future purchases they wish to make, allowing the system to become that much easier for both buyer and seller.
Logan wants to be able to scale Camoretro large enough to develop a “Creator’s Collection” on the site, which will allow call builders, artists, photographers, or any sort of vendor making their own original work to have their own designated space to sell their goods with a 0% commission fee. “Anything that’s original and your own work, you’ll be able to sell without a commission,” Webster says, growing the appeal for people to use Camoretro to sell their original made goods. “It will be as simple as checking a box that says ‘this is my own creation’. With the caveat of a processing fee that the credit card companies charge. Unfortunately, there’s just no way around that part”. Logan hopes that allows creators to get their work out there without having to worry about creating a website, or paying someone to get them a website up and made.
One of the most rewarding sales that Logan mentions, through Camoretro, was being able to outfit Col. Tom Kelly on a hunt with Mossy Oak. “It was more of a rewarding sale than anything. I waved commission on it, but one thing that I’ll do is let a customer reach out to me and tell me what they’re looking for, and I’ll take their request and send it out to different sets of my sellers that I know might have that kind of stuff. So when Mossy Oak reached out to me asking for some camo for Colonel Tom Kelly from the Tenth Legion book and obviously a very prolific turkey hunter, and that he was coming to do a hunt with Mr. Fox, and we’re trying to get him a full set of Mossy Oak original gear, can you help? And it was in three days, I had some work to do (laughs)”. Webster sent out the emails and managed to get together a full set of original Mossy Oak gear, new with tags, from the late ’80s.
Needless to say, Webster and Camoretro have proved to be a great source for people to buy and sell vintage gear, along with helping keep money and gear flowing into the outdoor community. Webster has done a fantastic job getting a system up and running that allows both buyer and seller to have a platform to achieve a simple, easy, and effective means of finding the goods they want to use. Whether it be in the field, or walking around town. Camoretro also is offering 0% commission across the site for the entire month of July, so for anyone wanting to jump on, create an account, and start selling, there’s never been a better time to do so.
Logan has created a great marketplace with Camoretro, allowing new hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts a way to find gear to use as well as others to find the gear they may want. All the way around, Camoretro is serving as an excellent marketplace to keep the outdoor industry alive and well.
