Bid to keep Alvey alive as orders flood in to iconic fishing firm

The 102-year-old Alvey Reels has received thousands of orders for its iconic fishing gear since it announced it would shut local manufacturing, sparking plans for a rescue bid.

Bruce Alvey, scion of the iconic fishing tackle company with one of his no nonsense, unbreakable, timeless masterpieces.

A rescue plan is being mulled for the 102-year-old Alvey Reels but the iconic business has vowed any white knight will have to vow to keep manufacturing in Australia.

The business announced last week that it would end manufacturing at its Carole Park factory in June after rising costs due to Covid-19 made the business unsustainable.

Alvey Reels chief executive Con Athans says that while he did not want to give customers false hope he would actively explore either seeking new investors for the business or selling it to an existing Australian manufacturer.

“What is off the table is moving manufacturing overseas,” says Athans. “Alvey Reels will never be made in China or Korea. That would be a disaster.”

Athans, who helped rescue Alvey from an earlier cash crunch in 2017, says the business had about 12 months of stock on hand with 4500 orders coming in the six days since it announced it would shut its factory.

“We are in a good position in that regard and we want to be fair to our workers and loyal customers,” he says." "It is my job to go out and market the business to local investors or manufacturers. Alvey is an incredibly well known brand around Australia.”

Athans says Alvey had over the last few years made headway in exploring new export markets, particularly in the United States.

Alvey Reels director Con Athans (right) testing out the brand's new overhead reel in Brownsville Texas with Charlie Guillen.

“We also have introduced some automation,” he says. “But the fact is we are working out of a 50-year-old factory where every reel and bait pump is made by hand.”

Covid-19 had caused massive delays and cost hikes for the business with shipments to the US now taking five months compared to five weeks prior to the pandemic.

Athans says he continued to be supported in the business by Bruce and Glenn Alvey, the great grandsons of founder Charles Alvey who started the business at St Lucia in 1920. They were heartbroken by the prospect the business could close.

Athans say only in Australia would the government let an iconic firm like Alvey be allowed to fail with no support. “Unless you are an IT firm or into renewable energy they are not interested,” says Athans. “Of the hundreds of calls of support we have received from people in the last week nor one has been from anyone in government.”

Operating from a small workshop at St Lucia, Charles Alvey originally produced about 20 reels a week and would catch the tram into Brisbane to deliver them to the warehouse.

Charles brought his son, Ken, into the business in the 1920s as custom grew.

Ken, a qualified pattern maker and draftsman, helped the business ramp up production and marketing efforts.

When Charles died in 1945 aged 80, his grandson Jack joined the company. Some of the original equipment used in Charles Alvey’s day is still used in the factory, which employs 26 people. Bruce Alvey noted in a 2015 interview with The Courier-Mail that the company is so old that its original advertising slogan "It’s the Alvey reel that fills the creel” is not readily understood today by modern anglers. A creel is a wicker basket used to hold fish.