They say that fashion is a boomerang: If you throw it out, the style comes back around in a few decades. The guys I grew up shooting and hunting with could never really be considered “fashionable” in terms of dress or style. Indeed, it was probably the opposite; the same uniform of jeans and button-up work shirts, metal-rimmed shop glasses and the ever-present layer of indeterminable grime that somehow never washed out.
Things come around again in the shooting industry, just like high-waisted jeans and bell-bottoms do for the ladies. Right now, we are in something of a retro era, and fashions are favoring the old and bold—as well as simple and nostalgic.
THE EVER-PRESENT PAST
The interesting part about this current retro trend is that it’s happening almost as a reaction to the events of the world. Many people interested in guns are turning away from the sickening reality of modern warfare and tech-heavy hunting gear, instead looking at trappings of a bygone yesteryear. The ’60s to ’80s are back in style in the shooting world, likely as a collective attempt to forget the state of modern politics.
You see this trend take place again and again: The post-World War II era saw a dramatic shift in narrative to an idealized version of the
