I stole it, I hope it's okay... Here you go Darren...
Howdy, folks.
I'm the CEO of G&H and someone sent me this thread this morning. I wasn't a member of Refuge Forums, but I really enjoyed reading this thread so I made an account and figured I'd chime in.
There are a lot of interesting points in here, so it's tough to know where to begin. I'll start at the top:
1. DuckG died two years ago, and the company was going to be sold for scrap metal (literally) when our new ownership group stepped in to try and save it. In the past two years we've put an *immense* amount of work into resurrecting what was once the best decoy on the planet. It hasn't been easy. **** breaks. Supply chain problems are real. Our crew started with two employees and now numbers 27. We've expended real blood, sweat, and even some tears trying to turn on an 89 year old factory that had been all but forgotten.
2. Last year, our sole focus was just to make the product again, and return to the quality that made G&H great. We didn't innovate, or come up with anything new. In fact, we cut nearly a third of the products G&H made, because we weren't convinced they lived up to the reputation for quality that we wanted G&H to have. This meant that we had to go back to the old way of making decoys - thicker paint, more plastic, and better craftsmanship. We accomplished this - we sold a little more than 40,000 decoys last year, and we only had five boxes returned all year.
3. We heard the feedback that many of you have voiced in this thread - the old decoys worked great, but they needed to look better. What we offered last year was the stuff that was designed in the 60s. And these decoys looked like they were painted with a crayon. So we searched high and low for a decoy carver who was doing excellent work to modernize our look. We found this person in Luke Costilow out of Ohio. Luke is a 3rd generation carver and has won countless awards for his work. It's beautiful, without being complicated.
4. When we started to talk to Luke, we realized that getting new carvings to market in the USA would take at least two years. Each mold would cost us between $50k and $75K. We knew there was no way we were going to get new carvings to the market in 4 months. While looking at our decoys, Luke commented that they didn't look bad - they just needed an update and better detail. So that's exactly what Luke did. In 4 months, he turned around 24 new paint schemes, with custom mixed colors, and then taught all of those paint schemes to our staff. *Remember* we're making the product in the USA. When other decoy companies want a new product, they call China and someone in Shenzen sends them 12 new prototypes that they can pick from. They pick what they want, and then the decoys show up in a container a few months later. The cycle is MUCH longer for us, because we're doing 100% of the development, design, and manufacturing in the USA and we're very proud of this. When you buy our products, your dollar stays in the USA.
5. So the result is our new Premier Series. We think they're a massive improvement on what we offered last year (and for 89 years before that). The customer seems to think so, too. I'm looking at the current sales data, and 2023 is up 508.4% over last year. We're so thankful for the business!!
6. So why did we hire an excellent carver if all we did was change the paint? Because the paint is the first step in the process. Currently, Luke is working on new carvings and we'll have these available in future seasons. G&H wasn't built overnight. It took 89 years to get where we are today. We're aware of this, and committed to not screwing up what the Gazalski and Hutton families worked so hard for in the past. You all don't see G&H the way you see the other companies. We can tell from forums like this one, that you won't tolerate a crappy product from us. So give us a little patience while we work on the next generation of excellence here in Henryetta.
7. We hope you'll give the Premier Series a try. They look really sharp, and we're confident that even a newbie duck hunter can kill ducks over them. There are a lot of reasons for buying decoys. Some guys want to look cool at the boat ramp. Some guys want something new, every year. And some guys want a well-made product that looks great, that they don't have to replace every two seasons. We're here for that guy. The guy who takes his hunting seriously and appreciates a well-made product. He cares more about the birds and the season than what everyone else at the boat ramp is running. He probably works hard for his money, loves his country, and sends his momma flowers on her birthday. That's our guy. And if you're not him, that's fine! There are a ton of great decoys out there to choose from if your priorities are elsewhere. You can see all the decoys at
http://www.ghdecoys.com. Oh and we are still making Supermag everything!
8. Stay with us for a couple of years. We're only growing and getting better. At the factory we have a saying - we're trying to be at least 2% better than we were yesterday. Watch us grow. There's a lot more coming.
9. We hope you'll come to the Oklahoma Waterfowl Festival in Henryetta on September 23rd. You can tour the factory and see what makes our products different.
Thanks for all the excellent feedback on here! You guys are great. See you in the marsh this fall!!
Ray Penny
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:31 pm
