Natural Gear Looking Toward Fall Hunting Season

Stone Ward is running a home-embracing campaign for Natural Gear of Little Rock.

The camouflage company Natural Gear of Little Rock hopes the COVID-19 outbreak comes to an end by the summer, if not sooner.

If the pandemic continues into June, July and August, leading into the duck and deer season, “it would really put a squeeze on our industry,” said Hunter Scott, the company’s vice president of operations. “It could really get hairy with a lot of the orders we have.”

Natural Gear said it hasn’t seen much of a drop in sales since the COVID-19 pandemic hit because this time of year is traditionally a slow period for the company.

Natural Gear hasn’t laid off any of its dozen employees or furloughed them. “We run pretty lean as it is,” Scott said. “And we manage our cash well.”

Orders continue to be placed, he said.

“I think a lot of people are still hunting and they’re still fishing,” Scott said. “We want to make sure we can still provide them with the products that they need while still being responsible and practicing our social distancing for our employees.”

The company promotes itself as having the best camo that is affordable for the average hunter.

July, though, is a critical time for hunting apparel. “People start shopping in August for the upcoming archery season, and that’s when everything starts getting going,” Scott said.

Natural Gear was coming off a strong 2019 with a sales increase of 20% over the previous year. Scott, who declined to release sales figures, said the increase was linked to an expanded advertising campaign that included radio and billboards.

Natural Gear was projecting similar growth this year.

The company planned to do some more billboards in the spring, but postponed the launch. “It didn’t seem appropriate and it didn’t seem like it was going to be well-received,” Scott said. “And we’ll have new ones for the fall. Assuming, obviously, that this is behind us, which is the hope.”