FOR more than 100 years, Australians of all ages have enjoyed fishing while using their trusty Alvey fishing reels.
The name has been part of Australiana, and synonymous with the country’s wild caught fish off beaches, within pristine seas, lakes and estuaries.
If all good things come to an end, this is not the final curtain call the Alvey brothers envisaged for their fishing brand.
They’d prefer the brand to have continued onwards and upwards as a legacy in their name, much the same as heirs would have carried on the Alvey name.
You see, brothers Glen and Bruce Alvey don’t have children, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t poured every inch of themselves into creating something to carry on the family name. The Alvey brother’s DNA is etched within every handle, gear and spool that comprises the reel with their name on it.
And it is a legacy handed to them by their father they feel slipping through their fingers.
The demise of the brand has nothing to do with cheaper offerings or knock-off brands copycat poaching – instead it is issues on the engineering side is forcing closure of their production facility.
“Costs in the engineering side have blown out, finding reliable supply chains are hard when it comes to getting products in and out,” said Bruce Alvey.
“All those things have had a bearing on costs just going up and up. We just can’t keep going on the way we are.”
The thought of no longer being able to manufacture fishing reels is not one they’d like to entertain. They didn’t get to this point due to mismanagement or improper care – it was an inability to source raw materials, cost increases along with domestic and global supply chain issues that pushed them into it. Add to that Covid disruptions and you have all the ingredients to a recipe that spells doom for businesses worldwide.
The Alvey name as a business brand had been passed through four generations.
“I was working as a draughtsman,” said Mr Alvey “when my grandfather died leaving dad alone in the business.
“He said, ‘are you going to come in or not because if anything happens to me, we’re up the proverbial creek’. So, I joined the family business back in September or October 1973.”
Mr Alvey said the business had been started by his great-grandfather who initially ran a push bike repair shop in St Lucia.
“There was a sports shop opposite him that sold fishing tackle,” he said.
“They ended up asking him to do some reel repair work and he decided he could make a better one than the one he was repairing. He made a few reels on a treadle lathe and it went from there. He moved the business from St Lucia to Carole Park in Ipswich back in 1978, and we’ve been here ever since.”
Mr Alvey said despite similar materials being used when it came to manufacturing the reels, it was the mechanics and quality of workmanship that saw it stand out as a brand.
“His reels were much better than others at the time, all of which are now gone. Alvey is the only one to still be made and sold in Australia,” he said.
“People have said, ‘the only problem is we built such a good product it never wears out enough to be replaced’.
“I always reply ‘well, if we didn’t make a good one, we wouldn’t be here today.’”
You can’t walk into the Alvey factory and buy reels. The brand is only sold to wholesalers.”
He said one of Alvey’s oldest customers – a large family-owned enterprise – had been buying fishing reels from them for generations.
He said it was a pity outdoor sports and hobbies like fishing, were being dropped in favour of things like computer and console games.
“In the older days, the weekends would see everyone out and about fishing, and having fun,” he said.
“Back then if your dad bought you a fishing get-up, it would include an Alvey reel, it’s what you grew up with.
“Then during the 1980’s all the spinning reels came in from overseas, and that hurt our market.”
He said as cheaper reel options came onto the market and another change was afoot.
“Computer, mobile phones and console games keep children busy nowadays,” he said.
“There are a lot of children out there who don’t even think about fishing unless mum and dad are into it.”
Mr Alvey said he had noticed a ‘big change’ when it came to kids getting into fishing, and technology was to blame.
“I talk to many parents and technology is their biggest problem, they want to know how to get their children off screens and into outdoor activities,” he said.
Now the Alvey brand is under threat, the brothers are trying to rally the troops for assistance.
The brothers need someone to partner with in order to keep the brand going and merge with a business with similar values.
“I said let’s join hands get things sorted or one day Alvey reels will disappear from the market for good,” he said.
