Latest / Ducks Unlimited Podcast / DUX SERIES: Tom Beckbe: Timeless & the Modern Outdoors (Ep 784)

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DUX SERIES: Tom Beckbe: Timeless & the Modern Outdoors (Ep 784) · Ducks Unlimited Podcast

• 0:04
  Radcliffe Menge: It look like DU and the staff and the volunteers have a natural gravitational pull for good people. Good people attract good people, and DUX is is the biggest room filled with good people in the in the outdoor world that that I've been in. So we're excited to come back in July.
• 0:19
  VO: Can we do a mic check, please? Everybody, welcome back to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. I'm your host, doctor Mike Brasher. I'm your host, Katie Burke. I'm your host, doctor Jerad Henson. And I'm your host, Matt Harrison. Welcome to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast, the only podcast about all things waterfowl. From hunting insights to science based discussions about ducks, geese, and issues affecting waterfowl and wetlands conservation in North America. The DU Podcast, sponsored by Purina Pro Plan, the official performance dog food of Ducks Unlimited. Purina Pro Plan, always advancing. Also proudly sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. Whether you're winding down with your best friend celebrating with your favorite crew, Bird Dog brings award winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly.
• 1:25
  Jimbo Robinson: Welcome back to another installment of the DUX series here on the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. I'm your host, Jimbo Robinson, alongside cohost, mister David Schuessler. Hello. And this series is highlighting companies, individuals, and organizations that are highly involved in making the DUX Waterfall Show a huge success. Once again, DUX this year is July 31 through August 2 at the Renaissance Convention Center.
• 1:54
  And today, we have a special guest in studio on the podcast, Radcliffe Menge with Tom Beckbe, or you can just call him mister Tom like I do. And you guys, you guys set the bar extremely high last year with your cabin setup. A house in the show.
• 2:12
  David Schuessler: It was a house.
• 2:13
  Jimbo Robinson: It was awesome.
• 2:13
  David Schuessler: I helped take it down. We did take it out.
• 2:16
  Jimbo Robinson: Yes. It was a house. He wasn't there. Definitely not there. No.
• 2:20
  And the launch of the DU line, I think I think that peak last year, y'all made a massive splash, and I think it was your setup and then the launch of the DU line.
• 2:32
  Radcliffe Menge: Well, good news is the cabin is back Yes. For 2026, much to the chagrin of the team that has to put it together, and I guess everybody who has to participate taking it down. But we're excited to bring the cabin back. Excited to bring the DU line back this year. You know, we did launch it last year in coordination with the first year DUX back here in Memphis.
• 2:53
  Great reception for it. For those of you all who hadn't had a chance to look at it, you know, we put together with the help of the team here at DU a collection of, you know, classic premium outdoor gear. So that's everything from wax jackets to wax and leather canvas bags, all real fouling gear, you know, great, great assortment. And this year, we've got some really cool new additions to it.
• 3:14
  Jimbo Robinson: Don't don't don't give them away yet.
• 3:15
  Radcliffe Menge: I'm not gonna give them away yet. So We'll
• 3:16
  Jimbo Robinson: get into that.
• 3:17
  Radcliffe Menge: Excited excited to bring the show back to Memphis. It's always fun being here, and Ducks is really, you know, highlight of the year for us. Kicking off was really a busy fall year leading up into, you know, duck season and and holiday. So
• 3:31
  Jimbo Robinson: Well, before we dive in, you just gave a great, like, platform. Before we dive in, we have a fun round we call the flock shot. Chris.
• 3:40
  Radcliffe Menge: The flock shot.
• 3:45
  Jimbo Robinson: Coffee drinker or not? Coffee.
• 3:48
  David Schuessler: Woah. Black or cream and sugar?
• 3:51
  Radcliffe Menge: I take it the same way mister Wolf takes it. A lot of cream, a of sugar.
• 3:54
  Jimbo Robinson: Favorite color Gatorade? Orange. What's the flavor? Orange. Nice.
• 4:02
  I knew it was a bummer when he said orange. Over and under semi auto.
• 4:05
  Radcliffe Menge: Oh, none of the above. Side by side.
• 4:07
  David Schuessler: Oh, you knew you knew somebody from Beckbe would say side by side, and and and I'm proud of you for that. Fantastic.
• 4:15
  Radcliffe Menge: 28 gauge too.
• 4:17
  David Schuessler: Oh, aristocrat. Yes.
• 4:20
  Jimbo Robinson: Man. First gun.
• 4:24
  Radcliffe Menge: Browning b p s youth model 20 gauge pump, and it is still the heaviest gun I own.
• 4:32
  Jimbo Robinson: You could say that then, youth model. Yep. That's just one of the things that's so crazy about the world is when when we talk about this, mine was an August youth model, 20 gauge, but then my first real big boy gun was a Browning BPS 12 gauge with a Ducks Unlimited logo. My father and I won it at an event here in Memphis.
• 4:55
  Radcliffe Menge: That's awesome. Yeah. That BPS, I actually, it was so heavy. My dad bought it for me to to shoot dove with, and I had a really hard time picking it up and wing shooting with it. But so I started turkey hunting with it in middle school, and it's actually it was a great turkey gun because it's short.
• 5:10
  So when you're sitting down and you got your knees pulled up in front of it's like easy to mount, like rest on your knees. So it's really great little turkey gun.
• 5:17
  Jimbo Robinson: Favorite piece of Beckbe clothing?
• 5:20
  Radcliffe Menge: Oh, man. That's tough. I got a whole warehouse of it. I mean, look, I'm still partial to tinsel jacket number one. So the first product we ever designed was a tinsel jacket.
• 5:30
  I had the original one was a custom jacket for me that I wore to work, and people wanted to know where could you get one, how could they get one. So I'm partial to that. Out of the new gear, and this is gonna sound like like this is rigged, but I really do love the DU Steward jacket. It is you know, it's got all you know, ten years of evolution of the brand, so there's a lot of design work inside the garment that's kinda hard to see and hard to know if you're not really a Garminto, but that's what makes it so comfortable. It's a great length.
• 6:04
  The DU color is great. It's got a nice heavy twill liner on it. I just love it.
• 6:08
  Jimbo Robinson: Alright. What is a garmento?
• 6:10
  Radcliffe Menge: You know, like an old school garment guy, like Okay. Someone who came up in the trade and really knows how to the architecture of a, you know, of a really good outerwear piece.
• 6:18
  David Schuessler: Jimbo, I've I've got a great marketing line for that jacket. Yes. The jacket that makes you as cool as your granddad.
• 6:27
  Jimbo Robinson: Yes. But in today's world, vintage is very cool, but how far like, our vintage is different than that. Like, your and my vintage would be different a little bit.
• 6:40
  David Schuessler: Oh, my vintage was wax cotton. Like, that's that look, that smell, that's what both my grandfathers wore when we went duck hunting.
• 6:50
  Jimbo Robinson: I guess my vintage would be waterproof cotton and neoprene.
• 6:55
  David Schuessler: Well, then yours is different
• 6:56
  Jimbo Robinson: than mine. Just a little bit. My dad my dad wore I don't remember. I don't old school camo, obviously, is vintage. I remember that.
• 7:06
  My dad wearing a lot of that. But my my grandfather no. I don't remember. He wore I I feel like he wore there now there was a piece. My dad still has an original wax jacket that he has had for I don't know how many years.
• 7:22
  I mean but he still has a browning puffy jacket too that he had in college. Well,
• 7:29
  David Schuessler: he's the same size.
• 7:30
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, so he mean, he he but yeah. Interesting.
• 7:35
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. You know, the thing about legacy and traditional apparel, every generation has got, in their minds, what the generation or two before them wore. I think what's interesting about what we do at Tom Beckbe is the materials are really, you know, the same that your grandfather or your dad would have worn to wax cotton corduroy leathers, like, you know, heavy natural materials that really do perform well. And I think going back to my comment about, you know, the Stuart Jacket and why I love it, what we're doing is we're taking all of those traditional materials, and we're using a lot of modern development technology and how garments are put together, how they're designed, and how they're really built to last. So the materials themselves will last.
• 8:19
  I think what's important about what we're doing and kinda what differentiates us in the market versus other legacy brands that are that are out there is you really got what I would call modern fit. And I don't want people to think that that means, you know, too trim or too too too slim, but it means mobility, it means durability, and how things are constructed, and like some real, you know, evolution in the way clothes fit. I mean, I think if you think about those jackets that your grandfather or your dad had, they're big and boxy and bulky. And I think if you put on a Tom Beckbe garment, which you'd notice a similar smell, similar texture, similar feel in the fabric, but the goal is to make you feel more comfortable in them than those those, like, true heritage pieces.
• 9:02
  David Schuessler: Yeah. You can wear them under waiters instead of always having to wear them over waiters.
• 9:07
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. And you can wear them around town or not feel like you're, you know, feeling fuddy duddy.
• 9:11
  Jimbo Robinson: Yep. Alright. If you had to live the rest of your life with only one of these, what would it be? TV, music, or books? Wow.
• 9:20
  Radcliffe Menge: Dead heat between music and books. I guess I'm gonna go books.
• 9:25
  Jimbo Robinson: That fits you, mister Tom, to a tee reading by the candlelight in your cabin.
• 9:33
  David Schuessler: Anybody ever said TV?
• 9:35
  Jimbo Robinson: Not yet. Not yet.
• 9:36
  David Schuessler: I don't think we've had one.
• 9:38
  Radcliffe Menge: I'd be pretty surprised if anybody coming on this podcast would choose TV. Self selecting in that sort of way.
• 9:45
  Jimbo Robinson: You know, an interesting take to that would be yes because you can't really get music off of t like, you know, back in the day, they'd CMT, they had m you know, they had music channels on TV all the time. Not anymore. Not anymore. So
• 9:58
  Radcliffe Menge: I guess a clever guest could hack the question by saying TV because they could broadcast music out of it and read a book off of it, but I'm not that clever.
• 10:05
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. That person yeah. They would be a lot younger than all of us. Favorite movie of all time? Oh.
• 10:17
  Radcliffe Menge: Probably, let's see. Can I pick three?
• 10:21
  Jimbo Robinson: No. Mm-mm.
• 10:22
  Radcliffe Menge: Oh, come on. Alright. Well, let me let me try to whittle this down. It's gonna either be the dirty dozen, Cool Hand Luke, or Heat. I'm gonna
• 10:33
  Jimbo Robinson: go with Heat. He's consistent. He is. Interesting.
• 10:38
  David Schuessler: Other than Arkansas in the middle of an ice storm, what is your favorite place to hunt waterfowl?
• 10:46
  Radcliffe Menge: Oh, I had a real banger this past December. Duck hunted the Graybull River in Wyoming in December. It was pretty special.
• 10:55
  David Schuessler: You ever been to Wyoming, Jimbo? I've been through it. Okay.
• 10:59
  Jimbo Robinson: But no. Jackson Hole is on my bucket list though in the summer. Great
• 11:05
  David Schuessler: duck hunting out there. Really?
• 11:06
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. Yes. Big time. We hunted so as part of our DU collaboration, so the marketing that'll roll out this July in coordination with DUX, we actually hunted Fish Creek right by the resort in Jackson Hole, hunted the Gray Bull for a couple of days. We got three great DE supporters that we filmed out there.
• 11:26
  So for those of y'all who are interested, what that experience looks like, you're gonna get to see firsthand. That's cool. Yeah. It's pretty cool.
• 11:34
  Jimbo Robinson: Hey, world famous audio engineer. We ought to try to see if we can snag that for one of our dead times on the duck in the duck den during the show. That'd be cool. Can we show it?
• 11:45
  Radcliffe Menge: Show what? Video?
• 11:46
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. That'd be awesome. Yep. Alright.
• 11:51
  First car. White Ford Explorer. Would you would you like to have it back?
• 11:58
  Radcliffe Menge: The AC did not work for the last eight years that I owned it,
• 12:02
  Jimbo Robinson: so I think I'm pretty Lord.
• 12:04
  Radcliffe Menge: I think I'm pretty good.
• 12:05
  Jimbo Robinson: Where were you living during those eight years? It wasn't Memphis.
• 12:09
  Radcliffe Menge: It wasn't Memphis. Now I lived in Virginia. It was pretty hot. A pretty notorious car in the summer to not wanna be in.
• 12:14
  David Schuessler: It's hot up there in the summer.
• 12:15
  Jimbo Robinson: So I tried last summer to make it without AC. Not possible. No. That was two summers ago. It was, like, one month.
• 12:24
  By the time I got home, my shirt would be so wet. It was it was it's imp because you can't even roll the windows down. Down. And then I tried to fix it myself. That didn't work either.
• 12:34
  No. That cost me more.
• 12:35
  Radcliffe Menge: No. I mean, no no AC, and this had that old had this old fake leather seats in it, and so, mean, cloth I don't know if cloth would have been better or worse, but, you know, you had to peel yourself off of them to get out of the car.
• 12:47
  Jimbo Robinson: Oh, yeah.
• 12:47
  Radcliffe Menge: Radio didn't work either. Oh, did you have Let me get you. You do
• 12:52
  David Schuessler: some great books in there, though.
• 12:55
  Jimbo Robinson: You can't even have books on tape. Yeah. Before we dive into everything, Radcliffe, let's just introduce you to the listeners that that may not know, and and tell us who you are, kind of I know what you do with the company, but what you do with the company and kinda where it came from.
• 13:11
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. So my name is Radcliffe Menge, and I'm the founder and CEO of Tom Beckbe. We're based in Birmingham, Alabama, and my wife and I started the business back in 2015, really as a creative outlet at the time. We were both full time practicing attorneys. And like I was saying about that first Tensile jacket, you know, really the idea for the company wasn't an idea for a company at all.
• 13:32
  It was an idea for a product, and the product wasn't even a product for people to buy. It was just something that I wanted to own, and that was a classic American wax cotton jacket. I wanted to have an American color palette, an American silhouette, so when you looked at it, it would look like that classic jacket, but I wanted to have some modern updates so I could wear it over suit to the office or wear it in a duck blind or, you know, just wear it around town and enjoy it. And so that first product was the Tensile Jacket, which took us a couple of years to figure out how to design, make, and put together. And then we started a little business in 2015.
• 14:06
  So we had a product, we came up with a great name for it, the Tinsall jacket named after the Tinsall River in Alabama, and then we needed a company name to go with it. And so the Tom Beckbe is the old French name for the Tom Bigby River in Alabama. My grandfather's hunting place was near the Tom Bigby, and so it had great personal connection for me. My wife's from Alabama, and we really wanted the brand to be rooted in the in in its name and its origin to state of Alabama, and so that's how you end up with Tom Beckbe. That's how you end up with a tinsel jacket, and that's how you ended up with what's become our signature, which is a clay liner on the inside.
• 14:46
  So all the liners on the inside of our wax jackets, and we've got a whole bunch of different styles and silhouettes from men and women, they all have that same red clay liner on the inside. Now we originally used to actually dye them all using red clay in Alabama, but when you go from producing a handful of jackets to your friends for a full fledged outerwear business, you know, that becomes a little impractical. And so we still use the color. It's still, you know, a signature part of the of the line, and you'll see it in little details everywhere. You know, the bottom buttonhole on our shirts, the inside of a of a a pocket on a pair of shorts.
• 15:20
  You'll pick up that little piece of clay everywhere, and and you'll pick up a little more piece of Alabama. Almost all the products in our in our lines, whether it's bag, a jacket, jacket, whatever, if it's got a proper name, it's either a it's either a place in Alabama or a place in the the Northern Piedmont part of Virginia where I grew up. So you'll start to see all those you know, if you stare at a map long enough or if you're from rural Alabama, you start to see those small towns pop up and a Tom Beckbe product.
• 15:51
  Jimbo Robinson: Interesting. And and one of the best stories I think I've heard you tell is is that people call in and wanna talk to mister Tom. That would be
• 16:00
  Radcliffe Menge: People ask for Tom all the time, and, you know, like in the booth here at Ducks last year, people stopped by and say, hey, I wanna, you know, I wanna meet Tom, and, you know, I I just kinda roll with it. I actually got one of my all time favorite stories. So we, you know, we own five stores, and then we sell online. We also we've got great retail partners around the country, and one of our best one is George Sherman's clothing store in Starkville in Mississippi, and he had a customer who came in one time who told him that he had met Tom Beckbe in Birmingham and started to describe the circumstances under which he had met Tom. And George and I know each other really well, and so Tom so George knows the inside story here.
• 16:43
  And so George just sort of goading the guy along, and the guy claimed he'd meet me on a golf course. Well, George knows I don't play golf, Nothing against it, just, you know, not my thing. And so George gets him to describe meeting Tom. So he's, you know, tall guy, long, dark hair, and the guy's, oh, yeah. That's him.
• 17:01
  That's him. So apparently, there is an alter ego somewhere out in the universe, but, you know, he's a he's a he's a figment of, I guess, somebody's imagination.
• 17:12
  Jimbo Robinson: Well, there's a lot of there's a few people that may think that you are Tom Beckbe because as I was walking around the show last year, people would be like, is that is he really here? I'm like, oh, yeah. There he is right here. I'm talking to the customers. That's him.
• 17:25
  I I I just now it's just fun.
• 17:28
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. It is fun. And look, I look, I take it as a compliment. People drop by and they wanna meet Tom and tell them how much they love this stuff, and so I, you know, I'm I'm I'm happy to play the part.
• 17:40
  David Schuessler: I'm gonna start calling you Leonard Skynyrd.
• 17:42
  Radcliffe Menge: Now, see, now that would be the height of compliment. Oh.
• 17:45
  David Schuessler: I wanna meet Leonard Skynyrd.
• 17:47
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. We used to joke that Tom was the first cousins with Peter Millar, who's another fictitious retail human.
• 17:53
  Jimbo Robinson: Or most of them? Aren't most of them? And that part of, like, the fun and the as a Garminto?
• 17:59
  Radcliffe Menge: As a Garminto? Mean, Ralph Lauren's a very real person.
• 18:02
  Jimbo Robinson: That. Yes.
• 18:04
  Radcliffe Menge: I don't know if there ever were actually two Brooks Brothers, but I guess if you went far enough back, there probably were. Johnny O? Johnny O is I as far as I know, is not is not there is no Johnny.
• 18:15
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. I don't think so.
• 18:17
  Radcliffe Menge: I don't know. Somewhere there's somewhere there's a bar in Key West, and Johnny and Peter and Tom are all sitting there having a drink together.
• 18:24
  Jimbo Robinson: Oh, that may be a good book. Write it. That is hilarious.
• 18:29
  Radcliffe Menge: Well, we know we're not gonna make it into a TV program, are we? No.
• 18:39
  VO: Stay tuned to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast sponsored by Purina Pro Plan and Bird Dog Whiskey after these messages.
• 18:55
  Jimbo Robinson: You know, DUX last year, y'all were I mean, y'all have been great DU partners for a long time now. When did y'all start the partnership with DU?
• 19:05
  Radcliffe Menge: We last year was the kickoff for our partnership with DU. It was? Yep.
• 19:11
  Jimbo Robinson: I'm trying to think. But y'all have partnered with y'all have done other stuff within the Yeah.
• 19:15
  Radcliffe Menge: We've been DEU supporters for a long time, and, you know, me personally and the brand. You know, last year was when we really formalized the relationship, launched launched the collaboration, and I would say, you know, last year is when we really took it to another level.
• 19:28
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Because it was it was extremely popular, the backpack you have right there. I I towed it for for a while this duck season for a little bit and then carried it to Seaweed, and I love that backpack.
• 19:42
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. Mine's gone. Did that Wyoming trip and then did a few Arkansas trips this past winter, and then we went to Paris over spring break. So it's a very well traveled and DU backpack.
• 19:55
  Jimbo Robinson: And the hooded there's a vest with a hood on it, Water Fowler's What's the
• 20:00
  Radcliffe Menge: The Fowler vest?
• 20:01
  Jimbo Robinson: The Fowler. Fowler, Alabama.
• 20:04
  Radcliffe Menge: That's that's just a that's a that's a duck hunter. I'm just wondering. There is a Fowler's point. You know, we we're adding as part of the DE collaboration this year, an insulated wax vest, the Fowler's vest. So it's an updated design of the one you've got.
• 20:21
  It'll be part of the DU collab. Excited to release it.
• 20:23
  Jimbo Robinson: If it has a hood on it, I'm all in.
• 20:25
  David Schuessler: Yeah. You are.
• 20:26
  Jimbo Robinson: I'm all in. TBD. Exciting. So what big plans y'all have for DUX this year?
• 20:31
  Radcliffe Menge: Well, the cabin's back, like we said, and, you know, we we really look at, you know, DUX as kind of the kickoff, like I was saying, to fall for us, kickoff, you know, lead up to duck season, lead up to all the different hunting seasons, lead up to holiday, really just our busy our busiest time of year. It's the second half of the year. And we are launching a bunch of new products that are part of the DU collaboration. So we've got the Fowler vest and the DU and the Wetlands Green. We've got a great wool vest that we pulled back from pulled out of our archives as a vest we call the Northwoods that we made for a number of years.
• 21:09
  Solid wool vest with a waxy yoke. It's a great layering piece, something great to wear underneath the waiters. You get that nice natural breathability and warmth of wool with some added durability where your wader straps will be. And then we've got, you know, we've refreshed all the different shirts that we make made with DU last year, and we've got a great new bag. So last year, we did a little, you know, like small carry bag that we call a timber bag.
• 21:34
  And, you know, it's really functional for like a morning out in the field. But if you're a guy who likes to carry a lot of stuff, we made a a double version of that, which is a cool little shoulder bag, simple flap design over it. So, you know, try to keep the design, you know, straightforward and give folks a little bit more room if you carry a little more gear. So excited to have that. We'll have that at the show.
• 21:57
  And just really just excited to see a lot of people that we hadn't had a chance to catch up with since last winter. And, you know, check out, look like I'm just as big a gear junkie as everybody else who comes to that comes to the door there. So excited to see what other brands are doing, and and excited to see some cool new gear from a lot of really, really cool vendors who will be there. You know, it should be it should be a lot of fun.
• 22:19
  David Schuessler: And there'll be more this year. We added a whole floor? A whole floor? Well, I don't think you'll be able to see it in a day this year.
• 22:27
  Radcliffe Menge: Alright.
• 22:27
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. The lower level is what we're calling it, and it's got a ton of brands in it. That's awesome. So it just it's hard to say no. I don't like telling anybody no.
• 22:41
  So it was hard to say no, and this was the best option we had to expand the show.
• 22:47
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. Well, I look, if you get half the crowd that you got last year, then it would be a runaway success, and I think you're probably gonna get double.
• 22:55
  Jimbo Robinson: That's what we hear.
• 22:58
  Radcliffe Menge: You know, it's it's one of those That's what we're planning on.
• 23:01
  Jimbo Robinson: Absolutely. Yeah.
• 23:01
  Radcliffe Menge: You know, there are a handful of really, really great shows, and what I loved about this one is one, it's an easy drive for us to come up from Birmingham too, like right in the center of the universe right here in Memphis, close to DU headquarters. So there's lots of great folks from DU here, but it's really it's easy for everybody to kinda gather. And, you know, we what I liked about the show last year, even if y'all added another floor and even if it took two days, I think that'd be two days really well spent to see everything. I mean, if it if it's if it's waterfowl gear or waterfowl adjacent, I assume it's gonna be there over those two days, and if it's not, then, you know They're missing out. They're missing out.
• 23:40
  Jimbo Robinson: And there's companies that we see that come through the the message board offline all the time. Companies saying, know, I'm in the waterfowling gear, and I wanna be there. And it's like, man, you're so late to the game, and it's it's sad to to tell them no, but that waiting list grows every day. And what's really interesting now is the media. The social media attention or the the they're not influencers, but they're just part of the media world that wanna come just to cover the show.
• 24:10
  Can I get can I get a media credential to come and and and walk around? And and so they basically want to elevate their social media, you know, platform or whatever they're doing at our show. And that's like, I mean, having people basically market for you is is to me shows how successful the show was last year, and that's exciting.
• 24:32
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. And it
• 24:33
  Jimbo Robinson: was fun too. Right? It was a lot of fun.
• 24:35
  Radcliffe Menge: Some shows are are full of a lot of brands, but they're they're real business oriented. You know, they've got kind of that button up vibe to them. I mean, this show's fun. Right? Like, people are here to have a good time.
• 24:45
  People are here to get excited about duck season and, you know, excited to be in Memphis. And so I think that's kinda what sets it apart is, yeah, you've got everybody here, which is cool to see all the different, you know, brands and, you know, people that you know from the sport, but, you know, everyone's here to actually enjoy themselves. So it's got a great vibe to it.
• 25:05
  Jimbo Robinson: How did y'all handle inventory last year? Because the rumor on the street was y'all sold out of a few things. Did you have
• 25:10
  Radcliffe Menge: to send somebody back? We were pulling so we've got a store in Oxford, Mississippi, which is, what, an hour and a half from here. So we sold we the booth the booth ran out, and so we we were having our college kids who worked for us down at Ole Miss were running a shuttle back and forth from the store to replan, and we actually sold through the first production run of the DU steroid jackets here at the show last year, and unfortunately had more in production at the time. But that jacket sold out, you know, at least three different times last fall, and then we made another run for seaweed this year and those sold out. So we're about to take delivery of another production run of Stewart Jackets here in the next couple weeks, which are really earmarked for Ducks.
• 25:57
  But, you know, fingers crossed that we actually that they make it all the way to the show. It's been that popular.
• 26:02
  Jimbo Robinson: Why? Why do you think it you know, I as where we sit in here, I'd like to say, well, it's because it had the brand in it. But why made that jacket so different than the tinsel?
• 26:13
  Radcliffe Menge: Well, look, I I told I've told everybody at DU that's asked me this question, and I mean it sincerely, that the the power of the DU brand on the product is really is unmistakable. You know, there's something about the work that staff and volunteers do at DU, the mission of DU, the reach of DU, its impact, and that emphasis on conservation that really resonates with people. And I'm talking about people who do not participate in the sport themselves, but intuitively understand why conservation is important, and it's important to them. And I think that they like the idea of supporting it. I also think it's one of the best products that we've that we've ever made.
• 26:56
  You know, the jacket fits great. The color is great. You know, it's versatile. It's a good length jacket. It can you know, you can it's sort of a mid length, so you can kinda dress it up, dress it down.
• 27:08
  And it's just got a classic, like, American look to it. It's like we were talking about earlier. It looks like it could be your grandfather or your dad's jacket, but it fits the way that we all dress now. And I think that that just resonates with people. Like, you know, I you mean I I can look great and wear buy something that's gonna last a lifetime and support conservation all in one foul swoop, and it's a pretty good proposition.
• 27:31
  David Schuessler: What's the origin of wax cotton? Was that a European thing?
• 27:36
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. So that it it dates back to mid eighteenth century British Isles. So we buy wax cotton from Scotland, and it was a traditional weatherproofing treatment that was originally used on sails to preserve the sails. So you'll actually see sail cloth, which is about a seven and an ounce seven ounce fabric sometimes used. We use an eight and a quarter ounce shelter cloth, which is a tent fabric.
• 28:01
  We also use a six ounce plain weave, is really designed for apparel use, so it's a lighter weight. You know, traditional maritime applications, then it was adopted by the military. So what you're looking at is essentially the original performance fabric. I think what diff what sets modern wax fabric apart from what you would have bought in, you know, the eighteen sixties is that the chemistry in the wax itself and the application of it has come a long way. It goes back to kind of what I was saying about legacy brands, vintage brands, the evolution of them.
• 28:34
  They look and feel the same, but the technology that's behind them, how the garments are put together, how the fabric's dyed, how it's finished has come a long way. The other thing that I would tell you about wax fabric is that it is natural performance. So the wax and the components in it are either natural or byproducts of other natural processes. They're naturally PFAS free, and they're naturally biodegradable. So they don't have anything in them that's gonna last forever in the ecosystem.
• 29:02
  So it's a great product. You know, it's cotton. We use almost exclusively US cotton just because it's a long staple, great fiber. So I like to think that there's cotton that's coming from this area that's spun and woven up in our fabric, dyed, finished, and then brought right back here to where it came from to enjoy some time in the outdoors. So, you know, what's cool about wax fabric, it's got a great history to it, a great legacy to it.
• 29:27
  It's got natural performance qualities to it, and then it's got a natural sustainability element to it that, you know, you can pick and choose which part of that story you like, but what I like about it is every time you peel the onion back a little bit farther on wax fabric, it gets more interesting, and it tells a better story from a longevity standpoint. If you keep it waxed, it will last essentially forever.
• 29:52
  David Schuessler: So how often how often do you wax? And I know part of this is used. You know, guy that's 58 of the season is gonna need to do it more often. But your average just your average person, how often do they need to be thinking about waxing there?
• 30:11
  Radcliffe Menge: I would take a look at it every year after the season and make sure that you get dirt and debris off of it. Just like, you know, just like any other fabric that's exposed all this mud, the mud has a lot of, like, natural elements into it that'll corrode and degrade the fabric. So you wanna make sure you get all that off. That's just a wash with water and brush clean, and then you're really looking for dry spots or high wear areas, so that's anywhere where you get a lot of friction on the fabric. So think about elbows where your hands go in and out of pockets, pockets are being pulled on because you've got weight in them.
• 30:41
  The other place to pay attention to is the tops of shoulders. They tend to get dry, and that's from UV exposure from the sun. And so what I typically do is I'll touch up those high point those high traffic areas every year, and then I'll do a full reproof probably every two years. And, you know, that does two things. So one, it's improving the weatherproofing part of it, so it's keeping that and keeping you dry.
• 31:04
  You're also pervert preserving the integrity of the fabric itself. Like, it's important not just for the wearer, but it's important for the garment and the bag to keep that wax on there because it preserves the cotton fibers. It protects them. The other thing I'd say is the more you reproof it, the cooler it's gonna look and faster. Right?
• 31:22
  Because you're you're adding a layer of wax to the top of the wax that was already there, and when you work it in, you're essentially polishing the garment. So think about a pair of dress shoes that you polish with wax. Like, you're doing the same process with the garment, and in order to get it to get that cool luster, you know, to get that cool patina that everybody wants, you really you gotta wear it a lot, and then you gotta take care of it and reproof it. That's that's the trick of the trade.
• 31:46
  David Schuessler: So here's a question for both Jimbo and me. If you take a wax cotton gun sleeve and you dry it in the dryer, how do you lengthen it again?
• 31:58
  Radcliffe Menge: Buy a new one.
• 32:00
  Jimbo Robinson: So if you bought a 12 gauge gun case, it now becomes a youth 14.
• 32:06
  Radcliffe Menge: Now it's a now it's a 20 gauge. You know, we we get a version of this story pretty frequently, and it's typically my mother-in-law washed my jacket because it looked or felt dirty. What do I do? And we tell people, say, you know, give it to a kid and buy yourself a new one.
• 32:21
  Jimbo Robinson: Have you ruined it? You've ruined it.
• 32:23
  Radcliffe Menge: Well, two things have two things have probably happened. One, you've removed the wax, and so that's all now inside your washing machine.
• 32:29
  David Schuessler: Oh, is. Oh, it goes all inside the dryer. The dryer is where
• 32:33
  Jimbo Robinson: it goes. But you just do it at at somebody else's duck club and they never know.
• 32:36
  Radcliffe Menge: They never know.
• 32:37
  David Schuessler: Thank you, Jimbo.
• 32:38
  Radcliffe Menge: Yep. And so you've so you've removed the wax, so it's not weatherproof anymore, and the the the cotton is pretreated before it's dyed. It's sanferized, which is a process by which you kind of pre shrink it. But even then, once you apply all that, you know, the heat to it, it'd be it's the same thing as like, you know, nuking a a cotton shirt. It's gonna shrink.
• 32:57
  Yep. Yeah.
• 32:58
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. And it it becomes basically just a cotton t shirt then. Correct. Correct.
• 33:02
  Radcliffe Menge: A very expensive cotton t shirt.
• 33:04
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For your son to now carry.
• 33:07
  For your son. Exactly. Trash. You know, wax cotton, I feel like, has has come back recently, and I know you've probably seen that kind of just we talked earlier about vintage and heritage and legacy and and what was vintage to you. It seems like a timeless piece.
• 33:28
  Like, think everybody has worn it, and it seems to be coming back in different forms now, but do you think it's truly timeless because of how long it lasts?
• 33:39
  Radcliffe Menge: I mean, look, I think that it it it is truly timeless in terms of the the durability of it, but I but I think you're asking a bigger question is why why does this why does why does the appeal of it continue to endure? Yeah. And, you know, what what do people like about it? I mean, to think of a a more romantic group of people than waterfowlers. I mean, they probably wouldn't characterize themselves that way, but nostalgia, heritage, tradition are huge parts of the sport.
• 34:08
  And, you know, the work that y'all do at DU and and the work that a lot of other people do for conservation is is about the future and about leaving something better than you found it. And I think the what's very appealing about wax fabric, not all wax fabric is created equal. I mean, we're partial to the wax fabric that she can buy from The United Kingdom. What what's appealing about a high quality wax cotton jacket bag is just that, is that you can use something and love it and pass it on and leave it a little bit better than when you first got it.
• 34:46
  David Schuessler: Bo, I think performance wise, I think we ran past it and then went, woah. That that was pretty good. I mean, if you talk about your dad's puffy jacket. Right? Like, I'm old enough to remember in lower school and middle school when everybody had to have one.
• 35:02
  And there was new technology. We ran past it. And I don't know if it was people getting their father or grandfather's jackets out of the closet or what, but I feel like, yeah, it looks cool. There's no doubt. There is no look like that.
• 35:17
  But from a performance perspective, I think people are you know, some people are going back to wool sweaters like you had talked about because nothing beats it for heat retention, and it can be wet, and you can stay warm and and all of that. And and I think we ran past some of this and are going back and understanding that that technology was pretty good in the mid eighteenth century when it was invented.
• 35:40
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. Look, I think there's certainly circumstances where, like, true performance and synthetic are appropriate, but I would say for ninety percent of people in ninety percent of circumstances, like, we're we're gonna get you to where you need to be.
• 35:52
  Jimbo Robinson: I think what's interesting is forever, I had a another brand of a wax jacket. I wanted the liner. My wife being more practical than I was like, want the liner. I wanna be able to wear, you know, just one shirt, no undershirt, and this jacket no matter what the temperature is. And so, like, it kept going on.
• 36:11
  I didn't get it. Didn't get it. Never bought it. And then I was like, I don't need it. Like, this jacket's warm enough, and I think that has a lot to do with it is you can wear it, and it it it is it's breathable enough to where you don't it the temperature range you can wear it is is a lot.
• 36:28
  It is a lot. Higher than others.
• 36:30
  Radcliffe Menge: Well, and the other thing too about this, you know, the wax expands when it gets warm, you know, which helps with the breathability, and then it contracts when it gets cold. You know, I think a misperception of it is that of wax is people think of it as not being breathable, which I think is not entirely correct. And I you know, again, like I I go back to this. I think the technology has come a long way in it, and I think people are warming up to that like a truly, like, premium wax fabric, like the kind we buy from Alice Stevenson in Scotland is different than the wax fabric that your dad and granddad wore. I think the other thing that people are realizing too is that, like, true performance synthetic stuff also doesn't get you everything that it that it claims to.
• 37:10
  It also does not last. And I think that that is the reality that you're probably running into with if you look at like the natural, you know, timeline, you know, we're probably through a period now where we've all had Patagonia's North Face, it's like whatever. Pick your pick your brand, and you've had them long enough to see what happens to them over time with the degradation from UV exposure from out you know, from inclement weather. And then once they're not weatherproof anymore, there's nothing you can do for them. You know, they look cool.
• 37:40
  Like, I've got my dad's old puffy, you know, polyester LLP invest from the seventies, but, you know, it's got down coming out of the sun. Like, there's nothing you can do to get it back to its original state. So they really are disposable. They're now they're disposable on a on a longer timeline than what you would think of as like a plastic ziplock bag, but on a long enough timeline, they're the functional equivalent of it.
• 38:02
  Jimbo Robinson: So as you move through this in designing and the creation of Tom Beckbe and the company, you know, at this point in it, now you're making almost everything, right, apparel or garment wise.
• 38:16
  Radcliffe Menge: Garment wise. Yeah. So we make I mean, if you look at our two hunting categories, we make waterfowl and traditional upland gear. We've also got a full lifestyle line for for guys and gals, and then we've got a bag collection for upland waterfowl and then travel and every day. So it's everything from, you know, strap vest to, you know, our timber bags, so wax jackets.
• 38:37
  We do a lot of layering stuff, so we do some really cool wool and wool blend fleece and sweaters. We've got, you know, shirts for warm weather. We got shirts for cold weather and, you know, pants and shorts and the whole the whole shebang. And, you know, the best place to see all that is obviously the easiest place online, but it's in one of our stores. So like I was mentioning earlier, you know, probably the biggest evolution in our brand outside of product has been starting to, you know, open our own stores.
• 39:06
  So we started with the store in Birmingham 2021, which really helped with the evolution of the product line because at that time, we were making, I you wanna say, like three or four different styles of jackets, a couple layering pieces for guys, very almost nothing for ladies, and very little in the lifestyle, like everyday category. And so when we opened that store in the fall of twenty one, people would come in and they'd say, well, wear your pants, wear your this, wear your that. And so what it allowed us to do was interact directly with customers and to hear from people. You know, if you get a critical mass of people coming in saying, well, where are your Canvas Five Pockets? Like, you know, that's that's all the indication you need.
• 39:42
  They're like, alright, we need to start thinking about Tom Beckbe more as more than just an outerwear, you know, more than just a traditional outerwear company. And so what you see now, so fast forward five years is that's five years of product development, tinkering, design, getting production right, opening more stores on the same, you know, in that in that whole period, and really trying to like meet the customer where they think we need to be.
• 40:06
  David Schuessler: So where are your storefronts? Yes.
• 40:08
  Radcliffe Menge: At Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Oxford, Mississippi, Franklin, Tennessee, which our newest one we opened last spring, and then Middleburg in Virginia, which is just outside of DC.
• 40:19
  Jimbo Robinson: You followed the college trend there for a little while.
• 40:22
  Radcliffe Menge: We've got we've got a couple college, you know, stores. You know, the Oxford one was kinda opportunistic. It's a cool building. It's right on the square in Oxford and just looked like a Tom Beckbe store. It's got old tobacco ads on the inside for studs, tobacco.
• 40:35
  It's just cool space. So that was store number two, and then we got a lead on Cool Corner location in Tuscaloosa, so kinda same, you know, same recipe. We certainly did not start off, you know, trying to conquer schools of the old SEC West.
• 40:51
  David Schuessler: SEC West?
• 40:52
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. Right. But, you know, just dumb luck, you know, a couple cool stores, and I mean, it's certainly college town nothing quite like a college town for, you know, going to visiting a store or hanging out in a store, and so, you know, they've been they've been fun.
• 41:06
  Jimbo Robinson: What, you know, shirts, button down polos, like, it seems like something new is coming out every single day.
• 41:14
  Radcliffe Menge: It feels that way too at the warehouse, but yeah. You know, so summer, we do a really we do a cotton and then we do a performance polo.
• 41:23
  Jimbo Robinson: Y'all have a thin button down. A very thin button down.
• 41:26
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. We do a super we do super lightweight button downs. I mean, look, like, it's hot in Memphis. It's hot in Birmingham, and it's hot March, you know, almost until November. And so I think we've gotta, you know, deal with the reality of the heat and the humidity, and we feel like we've done a really nice job of kinda balancing, you know, that the growth of the assortment with what the weather dictates and what our customers want.
• 41:50
  Jimbo Robinson: Do you think that the shirt line, the everyday lifeline will continue to grow? Where do you see your biggest growth? Let me rephrase that to where do you see your biggest growth, in the everyday or in the in the jacket and hunting
• 42:03
  Radcliffe Menge: apparel world? I mean, it's it's a good question. I I I don't have a great I don't have a short answer to it because I think that we still got a lot of room to grow in both. You know, we make some great sporting apparel. We're not we're never gonna make everything that, you know, a waterfowl or an upland hunter needs.
• 42:23
  Like, there's always gonna be a place for, you know, different kinds of gear and different brands, but we like think that there's a little bit more room for us to introduce a few new cool pieces that people wanna buy and that'll be popular. And then on the lifestyle side, you know, we don't again, we don't try to be everything to everybody. We know who our customer is and and what he wants, and so we're we're trying to do more of the of of what we've got going right now. So I'd say we'd be, you know, a little bit deeper in the categories we're already in than versus expanding any farther out. Do you see yourself ever getting in the shoe world?
• 42:57
  You know, shoes we sell some great shoes from other brands. We carry Aldens and we carry Red Wings, two great American brands. So Red Wings, you know, based in Minnesota, and then Alden are based in Massachusetts. Those are, you know, we love carrying those too, and I don't I don't see us ever ever ever getting in the footwear. I mean, was hard enough for us to figure out outerwear and then figure out clothes and figure out bags.
• 43:19
  I couldn't imagine trying to figure out shoes too.
• 43:21
  Jimbo Robinson: What's the hardest you know, you said that earlier something like, you know, you're changing the way that people wear it more comfortable, more functional. It seems like everybody's going the way of slimmer. Do you think is that the hardest part is making the perfect fit?
• 43:35
  Radcliffe Menge: The hardest so someone asked me this recently, so I've actually thought about this. What's the hardest part fit wise for us, or what's the most important part?
• 43:43
  David Schuessler: Right.
• 43:44
  Radcliffe Menge: I would tell you in outerwear, it's shoulders, particularly for the outer like, we make gear for guys who are shooting a gun or who are casting a rod, you know? And if you think about that motion so think about your favorite hunting jacket. Now think about your favorite navy blazer, and think about the difference between the two when you raise your hands over your head. And I think that'll tell you exactly where the hardest part of putting our stuff together is. So there's a lot of detail that goes in how we build a shoulder and how we give you relief to kind of, you know, essentially wave your arms over your head without being uncomfortable, without everything coming untucked.
• 44:21
  I mean, worst thing you can do is have everything tucked down in your waders and you raise up, shoot your gun, and it all drags up with you, and the next thing you know, you're half in and half out.
• 44:28
  Jimbo Robinson: That's the customization, it seems like clothes today don't have to be customized. They're almost customized in their fit. It's very interesting. It's like it's like stretchy.
• 44:38
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. And while in stretch stretch can hot stretch can mask a lot of things. It can stretch some people say stretch can solve a lot of problems, but it can let you fudge some of that shoulder stuff. You know, with waxed cotton, the one thing it does not do, look, is I will bang the drum all day long for it and how great it is, but it is not gonna stretch. No.
• 44:57
  You know? And so It'll stretch smaller. I was gonna say it'll If
• 45:01
  Jimbo Robinson: you try it,
• 45:03
  Radcliffe Menge: it'll shrink, but it will not stretch. And so we we spend a lot of time thinking about, you know, the architecture of a garment to make it feel comfortable and make you feel like you can move in it.
• 45:13
  Jimbo Robinson: What when you see so I I I keep saying this on this podcast and others that I feel like the outdoor lifestyle is taking on its own thing, whether it's COVID related or anything else. But I feel like everybody wants a truck. Everybody wants to wear boots. Everybody wants to it seems like this outdoor lifestyle is taking on a a a new maybe an update. From y'all's perspective, do you feel like that it it is the the natural colors and the earth tones and all that?
• 45:47
  Do you feel like that that is is everybody wants to be a part of it whether you're inside of the hunting industry or fishing industry or any part of it. Do you see a lot more people gravitating towards wax, cotton, and and earth tones whether they're in the industry or not?
• 46:04
  Radcliffe Menge: I mean, that's a big question. The best way to answer the question is that people have access to a lot of information, whether it's social media, Internet, in a way that they didn't used to before. And I think a natural byproduct of that is that people are a little bit more curious or inquisitive about why things exist. And I think that what peep what people let's say you have just a passing interest in outdoor gear just because you think it looks good. Well, part of the reason that you think it looks good is because it immediately projects utilitarian, like built for a purpose.
• 46:39
  And I think that that what is appealing to that what's appealing about that to people is that it has an authentic root to it. You know, it's real. It's built for a purpose. It's not, you know, fashion for fashion's sake. Like, this is this is clothing that's built to go do something, and I think that that's what's attractive about, you know, outdoor gear and outdoor brands in particular is that there's another layer there that if I like that if I'm curious about why something looks the way it does, and there's a whole lifestyle behind it that I can dive into if I'm really interested, and I think that's part a big part of it.
• 47:17
  Jimbo Robinson: Very interesting. Do y'all work with influencers or ambassadors? Not to my knowledge. It's a it's you know, if you don't know, then yes. Because that's an interesting world because a lot of brands are made and and made or have been made via social media and influencers in today's world.
• 47:35
  And so to keep to your roots or not use them is just a a technique that you don't see every day.
• 47:40
  David Schuessler: I think it speaks to the quality of the
• 47:43
  Radcliffe Menge: Product.
• 47:43
  David Schuessler: Product to be able to do what you've done without. And and it's not tricking anybody, but it it's certainly a jump start in marketing to
• 47:53
  Radcliffe Menge: Mhmm.
• 47:53
  David Schuessler: Have people all over social media talking about your your product. Absolutely. Did it the old school way.
• 47:58
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. Well, some of this too is, like, I just don't know how to do it. You know? I wouldn't it's the same way that we didn't know. We we started making wax jackets in The US because we just networked our way to to a US supply chain.
• 48:14
  I think that, you know, the way the way that we've approached building the brand I think has been purposely slow and thoughtful about, you know, making sure that we're partnering with the right folks like DU. And I think that, you know, there's different ways to grow to grow a brand. We've we've taken the path that I think reflects the temperament internally, which is just, you know, we don't have to be everything to everybody and we don't have to be the fastest growing brand out there. We just wanna make sure that we're connecting with folks that we would wanna share a DUC plan with. And I mean, look, like there's lots of different marketing strategies to grow a brand.
• 48:53
  I don't wanna make it sound like we have some genius marketing strategy. Some of it is we just there's things we just don't know how to do. Like, we wouldn't know how to connect with the highest flying influencers, and I'm not sure that we would be the most appealing brand to them. But, you know, we we also take a longer term view of Tom Beckbe and brand and our, you know, participation in conservation and our place in the outdoors, and I think it just changes who you want to partner with and how you want to present the brand if you've got a real long term view for it.
• 49:22
  Jimbo Robinson: If you could tell mister Tom, aka Radcliffe, ten years ago, if you could tell him something that would have changed his perspective or the way he did Tom Beckbe, what's one thing you would change before you got started?
• 49:38
  Radcliffe Menge: I think I underestimated how hard it would be. Really? Yeah. I mean, look, like, this is a really hard business.
• 49:44
  Jimbo Robinson: It's amazing what you've done.
• 49:48
  Radcliffe Menge: Thank you.
• 49:48
  Jimbo Robinson: Because of it's it doesn't stretch. Like, I think that some people don't understand. Shrink.
• 49:54
  Radcliffe Menge: It does shrink.
• 49:55
  Jimbo Robinson: But I mean, like, that's not to make a jacket that is comfortable for for a massive majority of people that has zero stretch to it
• 50:04
  Radcliffe Menge: is not easy. Yeah. And look, like, some of this is dumb luck. You know? I mean, I you know, I'll be the first to tell people we've been we've had a lot of really good luck along the way.
• 50:13
  The flip some of that the flip side of that is some you know, you'd, you know, I'd I'd also believe you can make some of your luck, and I think that we've been very you know, since it grew the brand slowly intentionally, I think we've been diligent with what we've done. We haven't tried to make everything for everyone to be everything to everybody, and I think we've just tried to be really thoughtful about it. I think that some of that is a is is is honestly a byproduct of how hard it is. It's hard to import wax fabric from Scotland and have it cut and sewn and made into jackets in The United States. It's very hard.
• 50:45
  And you've got to marshal a lot of raw materials and supplies, and there's a lot of salesmanship that we have to do on the on the not even the customer facing side of the business, but to convince people that this isn't a crazy idea and that they should give us a shot and work with us to actually produce the goods we wanna sell to people. And, yeah, I think that's the part that I underestimated, how hard that would be.
• 51:10
  Jimbo Robinson: Well, one thing that that we have at DU are great partners like you, and and it helped make what we do that much better, and it helps most importantly, it helped DUX last year be what it was and what it's going to be this year is having so many brands promote not only DU leading into the show, but promoting their brand and and making that compilation of all of these brands in one building and everybody on social media and everything everybody was doing with their launches like the DU line and others y'all did, and just the the the buzz around the room made it what it is, and we can't thank you enough for for being a part of that and helping us. Amen.
• 51:54
  Radcliffe Menge: Well, thank you all. I mean, look, let's not skip over all the work you guys have to do to to put on the convention. And, you know, from our perspective, a ton of fun, and you really you all have done such a great job of bringing together I I mean, it look like DU and the staff and the volunteers have a natural gravitational pull for good people. Good people attract good people, and DUX is is is the biggest room filled with good people in the in the outdoor world that that I've been in, so we're excited to come back in July.
• 52:25
  Jimbo Robinson: Well, if you can't make it to d u x, shame on you. I mean, not shame on you. You're gonna miss out. But if you're not gonna be there to see the new products and all, where can they find you and where can they buy your stuff besides the stores you said?
• 52:40
  Radcliffe Menge: Yeah. So, again, we got the five stores and then tombeckbe.com. That's tombeckbe.com. And then we've got almost 200 retail partners all over the country. So if you go to our website and you wanna touch and feel the product, which I encourage you to do, we've got some really great stores, a lot of independent stores run by really great people who care a lot about outdoorsmen.
• 53:03
  Check you know, find that list of retailers on our site. Go by and visit one of them. Throw on a jacket and, you know, give us a give it a little test drive, and I think you'll see a lot of what we were talking about today.
• 53:14
  Jimbo Robinson: That's awesome. Well, as we begin to wrap up, go check out tombeckbe.com. But most importantly, come and see it, feel it, touch it, try it on because the jackets that fit David may not fit me, but they you have something for everybody.
• 53:28
  Radcliffe Menge: We've got something for everybody.
• 53:29
  Jimbo Robinson: Because you do have a stretch, then button down. We do. That is amazing in Memphis in the summer heat. So thank you again to all of our listeners out there for listening to another episode of the DUX series on the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. Radcliffe, thank you so much for being in studio.
• 53:49
  David, always a blast to host with you. You make this show so much easier, and our world famous audio engineer back there, mister Chris Isaac, thank you for what you do, and we will catch you on the other side.
• 54:03
  David Schuessler: Watch for alligators. Peace.
• 54:07
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