The Vermont-based outdoor gear and apparel company Orvis plans to lay off 4% of its workforce by the end of the year, the company said Wednesday.
The decision requires the Manchester-based brand to let go of at least 50 employees. In a statement to VTDigger, Orvis President Simon Perkins said the layoffs were part of a broader reorganization the company would be undertaking in the coming months.
“Tariffs disrupted our business model in ways we haven’t faced before and have exposed a clear path to solidifying our long-term future,” Perkins said. “Moving forward, Orvis will be returning to our roots and shifting our entire focus to the core strengths of our business—the fly fishing and wingshooting pursuits that have guided our company for nearly 170 years and inspire our customers in unique and powerful ways.”
It was not immediately clear which categories of employees are being affected by the layoffs or how many people had already been let go as of Wednesday afternoon. Brian Holcomb, a spokesperson for Orvis, said the reorganization effort had just been announced internally Wednesday and “meetings are ongoing.”
The latest reductions follow more than 110 job cuts the company made in 2024 while closing some retail locations and discontinuing its catalogue sales service. Last year, Orvis also moved its headquarters from Sunderland to Manchester, saying at the time it was moving to a smaller building to shrink its footprint after it had taken on more remote workers.
Founded in 1856 in Manchester, Orvis claims to be the oldest mail-order retailer in the United States and sells fishing equipment, hunting gear and outdoor apparel, much of which is manufactured in Asian countries.
In the statement, Perkins said he would be “detailing our vision of the future soon” but did not specify whether the current reorganization effort would require any further store closures or which products, if any, the company plans to discontinue as it limits its scope.
“These decisions deeply impact the lives of our associates and our communities, and we do not take them lightly,” Perkins said. “We are leaning on our values and handling this process with both care and regard for our team.”
