Realtree Camouflage Boosts Hunting Camo Industry
Bill Jordon Launched the Realtree Camo Brand in 1986
Mar 7, 2009
Like Trebark (the first hunting-specific camouflage pattern) did, the Realtree and Mossy Oak camo patterns and businesses grew beyond their founder’s wildest dreams.
Other companies have flourished at lesser levels and many companies have come and gone, but Trebark, Realtree and Mossy Oak flourish as the big three in the hunter concealment and camo fashion category.
Realtree's Beginnings
Bill Jordan entered the hunting industry in 1982 when he founded Spartan Archery Sportswear Products, Inc., which offered a limited line of T-shits, camouflage head nets and bowhunting accessories.
Simultaneously, Jordan began to question the effectiveness of existing camouflage patterns, both military and hunting-specific.
“I started out in our family business manufacturing camouflage T-shirts in woodland and WWII patterns,” Jordan remembers. “Then I went to the SHOT show and saw the Trebark pattern.
"I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve been tinkering with patterns for my own use all these years, trying to make my woodland or WWII camo look like something. I think I can design a functional pattern too.’”
Jordan admits that Trebark’s habitat-matching concept was the right on the money. He simply thought he could make a pattern that more closely matched the areas he hunted most – Southern hardwoods – and that other hunters might like too.
Original Realtree
Jordan began an intensive study of North American bark patterns, comparing hundreds of photo samples to identify common characteristics. By isolating the most prominent traits shared by the various bark patterns, he developed the original Realtree® pattern and introduced it at the 1986 Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show.
“I was so fortunate,” Jordan says. “The first pattern was accepted by retailers and ultimately the consumer. We all talk about timing being everything; and the time was right for Realtree. There was a need for functional camouflage and hunters were looking for more choices.”
Jordan considers the introduction of a pattern that incorporates a variety of elements – bark, leaves and branches – as Realtree’s biggest accomplishment. But others point to licensing practices and finding processes that allow camouflage patterns to be transferred to hardgoods as even bigger contributions.
Licensing Practices and New Processes Grow the Camo Industry
“Back in ’86 and ’87, Charles Smith (president of Bear Archery at the time), one of our licensees, and I wondered how we could get patterns onto his bows,” Jordan explains. “We looked around the world for processes that would work. We found a company in North Carolina called Colorworks that helped us meet our goal.”
The rest is history. From that impetus, Jordan started another company under the Jordan Outdoor Enterprises umbrella called Immersion Graphics. Today, vast numbers of bow, gun and ATV companies use Immersion Graphics to put camo patterns on their products.
Final Finish
Final Finish®, available only through Immersion Graphics, is a design and dipping process. Final Finish® on dashboards, door panels, steering wheels, cell phones and hundreds of outdoor products.
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