About us

Shadow Flies as a business was founded in 2009, based in Chaing Mai, Northern Thailand, the one-time commercial capital of the fly-tying world. Over that time, the scale, proficiency and complexity of the business has steadily increased to its position today as the largest commercial fly-tying business in Thailand and one of the leading fly-tying business worldwide. It’s growth has been made possible, not on a reliance of low-cost labour, but on an absolute dedication to quality, efficiency and unrivalled customer service.

How It Began

It all started with a chance telephone call, leading to the purchase of £10,000 wholesale salmon flies being sent to the founder, Justin Maxwell Stuart, by what turned out to be a bankrupt business. What should of been the dream package for a very ardent salmon angler, turned out to be a gross mis-representation of the contents. The shipment contained approx. 20,000 Red Francis Salmon Flies 9/10^th of the total contents of the shipment, primarily in sizes that were infrequently used!

Irked but undaunted, it seemed the only way to both make amends and redeem the investment was to head to Thailand and make good on what was initially promised. Shadow Flies was the result, but it has taken blood, sweat and a great many tears to create what it is today, a business that not only produces flies of exceptional quality, but has proudly supported both its very valuable client base as well as a huge number of employees and their dependants over the years.

How we Grew

At it’s essence we grew due to the quality of our products, initially with a focus on Icelandic Atlantic salmon flies, but now encompassing all styles, patterns and fish species.

The culmination of our growth came in June 2020, with the completion of our purpose-built workshop. Clean, spacious, bright and fully air-conditioned, it can accommodate over 100 fly-tyers, alongside separate departments for stock, glue & finishing, dyeing and material prep, shipping and administration. We do not believe any fly-tying facility world-wide offers better conditions for the most valuable of all our resources, our employees.

OUR MISSION

To provide our clients with the best possible products, combined with the best possible service.

TOP QUALITY FLIES REQUIRE TOP QUALITY MATERIALS

At no stage in our process do we take short-cuts. We have only ever used top-quality branded hooks, whether that be Ahrex, Mustad, Partridge, Loop, Daichi, VMC Gamakatsu, Owner or KenSawada. The hooks we use are picked to suit the fly patterns, not the other way around. We source our very extensive range of materials from all corners of the world, but when it comes to key products such as fly hackles, we go for the best, Whitings being our primary supplier in this regard.

SHADOW FLIES TODAY

Our team at Shadow fluctuates from between approximately 100-150 staff. Most of our tyers have been with us for over 8 years, however many have been tying flies commercially for an average of 18 years.

Front of house we have a very experienced management team, with permanent ex-pat managers and employees, from the UK, Finland and Sweden. Shadow Flies has built up an enviable record amongst all our clients for quality, reliability and timely delivery. We are a company that adheres to the highest levels of professionalism in management, are financially robust, has the capacity to meet surges in demand and at its core has a very experienced, dedicated and happy workforce.

FAQs

How many years have Shadow been tying flies?

Shadow has been tying flies for 15 years. One of the oldest fly-tying workshops in the world.

What is the process of tying a fly?

A fly goes through many stages of production. The process starts in our stock room. Our stock room collects all necessary hooks and materials and prepares them for the tyer. This is an exact job in that the tyers have to get the right amount of materials and hackle so they can tie the corresponding amount of flies. Angry tyers without the right materials and hooks.

Some flies may require dyed materials. We have our own dying department that dyes the required materials. Our intention and design is to reproduce the same colour year in and year out. Meaning a fly with a certain yellow in 2010 needs to be the same yellow in 2023.

Our clients demand consistency, and we deliver on that. It is a magical process to replicate colours.

We also have a spray department for flies that need spraying.

Once the tyer has tied the fly, next stage is glue. We can tie a great fly but if the glue process is not good then we have ruined the work of our dedicated tyers!

Once the flies can have passed through glue the next process is Quality Control. Every single fly goes through QC without exception. Our flies are measured and adjusted so we can be sure all flies are consistent.

Then the flies journey continues to our packing department. It is here that each fly is packed. This includes boxes of multiple flies for PostFly and Decathlon.

Finally, the last stage is shipping. Our flies are meticulously prepared to be shipped to our clients.

The perfect fly has many processes until it is in the hands of our clients!

Why Thailand?

Thailand is the worlds capital for handcrafted products. Thailand has been weaving silk for over 2,000 years. The Thai Government set up a program in 1992 to attract businesses to Thailand. The Thai Government was particularly looking for foreign companies who employed experienced handicraft Thai’s. Also, companies that imported and exported on a regular basis.

This drove dozens of fly-tying companies to Thailand. By 2015 Thailand was tying 100,000 dozen flies a month.

Flies made for every situation

Bespoke wholesale manufacturer of the world’s finest salmon, steelhead & Sea Trout Flies

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Reviews

In addition to the outstanding quality and performance of these custom fishing flies, the artisan provided exceptional customer service. They were communicative throughout the entire process, keeping me updated on the progress of my order.

Michael Field

Short review

Johnny Johns

Shadow Flies were instrumental to Loop Tackle creating a new range of salmon flies and fly-tying materials - The products exceeded our expectations

G SIm -Loop MD

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