Est. Our Second Date
A history of Tandem & Tether Outfitters, as agreed upon by both founders after several drafts.
Edna Tandem and Walter Tether met on the McKenzie River in the spring of 1898. She was fishing a wet fly. He was fishing her spot.
On their second date they rented one canoe and were given one paddle. They spent eleven hours on the water, caught three trout, and could not agree on who had steered. That evening Walter went to his workbench and Edna went to hers. By morning the benches had been pushed together, and the company had a founding principle: if two people are going to the river, they should go as a single unit, with no practical means of leaving early.
We have kept that principle for more than a century. Every garment is cut on a double-width table. Every seam is sewn with two needles. Every product is tested in the field by a couple, and returned to the workshop by the same couple, usually still arguing about the field test.
A Partial Record
One Canoe, One Paddle
The company is founded on a gravel bar below Leaburg, Oregon, with a borrowed canoe, a shared lunch, and no written agreement. The exact date is not recorded. Both founders recall it clearly and differently.
The Matter of the Anchor
A disagreement over who had packed the anchor. The anchor was in the wagon. The wagon was in Corvallis. The founders resolved to build only gear that could not be left behind, because it would be attached to someone.
A Fly Line With Two Ends
Our first catalog product: a braided silk line with a tippet at each end, so that no argument would conclude with one person fishing alone. It sold out in three states. Returns were accepted only in pairs, a policy we have not revised.
The Get-Along Mackinaw Is Patented
Granted for “a woolen outer garment for the simultaneous warming of two persons of differing opinion.” The shared center sleeve was added in the second revision. It has been under discussion ever since.
Couples Counseling Added to the Warranty
Repairs to the garment had always been free. In 1974 we extended coverage to the people inside it. Claims are reviewed by a licensed therapist in Bend, by appointment, with both parties present and the garment on the table.
“A single needle is a single point of failure.”
Edna Tandem, Workshop Notes, 1924We will build every piece to outlast the argument during which it was purchased. We will cut it in Portland, on a table wide enough for two, and sew it with two needles. We will repair it for as long as you both shall bring it in.
Together, ideally.
The Founders, Who Are Still Together, Technically.