Guttormssons purchase Clarkfield Outdoors

Berdette Schoep fulfilled a dream he had 35 years ago when he started Clarkfield Outdoors and eventually built it into a prospering hunting apparel business.

The 73-year-old Schoep recently turned over the reins to his company, which is now a family-owned business headed by CEO Eric Guttormsson of Taunton.

“It was time,” said Schoep, about the sale on Nov. 1

“I have an opportunity now. And I want to eventually travel more.” Schoep, who started the company with six employees and only a half-dozen jacket patterns in 1982, will still maintain his office and continue as president of Clarkfield Outdoors for two more years before completely retiring.

Schoep then picked up a frame that housed an inspirational message that once belonged to his late wife that read: “It is not doing what we like to do. It is liking what we have to do, that makes life blessed”.

“I’ve put in a lot of hours here, but I love it,” said Schoep, explaining the message. “And I still have a lot of energy.”

Even though a fire still burns within Schoep in terms of his business, he eventually will pass the torch entirely to the Guttormsson family to pursue other interests.

“(Berdette is) teaching me all the ropes,” said Guttormsson, a 1985 Minneota graduate. “I’ve never had an office position before. I’ve really never done any type of book work either. So I’m bringing homework home with me at the end of the day to stay on top of things.”

Home for Guttormsson is a sheep farm east of Taunton where he lives with his wife Ann. They have two children that are currently in college.

Guttormsson’s background is in printing.

His parents, Jon and Barb, owned the Minneota Mascot for many years and Eric would help out there when he was younger; mainly as a commercial printer. And for the past 29 years, he worked for Western Printing in Marshall.

“They allowed me a lot of flexibility (at Western Printing) so I could watch my kids play sports,” said Guttormsson, referring to his son Alex, now a junior at South Dakota State University, and his daughter Heidi, a freshman at SDSU.

“With my kids both graduated now, I didn’t need the flexibility as much, and it seemed like a good time to do something else.”

Guttormsson has always been an outdoor enthusiast and even purchased some of his hunting clothes at Clarkfield Outdoors over the years. A family member saw a posting of the pending sale of Clarkfield Outdoors and notified Eric Guttormsson.

“We checked it out and I realized quickly that for this to work for us, I would have to physically be here,” said Guttormsson. Currently, there are 22 employees working at the downtown-based business in Clarkfield.

“Everything here is made from scratch,” Eric said.

“I don’t think a lot of people realize that.” “We do all the sewing, and put on all the buttons, snaps, zippers and things like that. Not only is everything made in the United States, it’s all made right here. I believe it’s one of the few, if not the only, hunting apparel manufacturer in the USA.”

Fact: 3.86 percent of all apparel sold in the country is manufactured outside the United States. Even popular outdoor companies such as Gander Mountain and Cabela’s once sold Clarkfield Outdoors apparel, but are now selling apparel that is manufactured overseas.

But Clarkfield Outdoors currently has several well-established business clients such as Ice Castle and Man Lake.

“We sell a lot of cushions and curtains for Ice Castle,” said Guttormsson, referring to the Montevideo-based ice fishing house manufacturer.

“And Man Lake (Hackensack, WI) is the largest supplier for the beekeeping industry in the world,” said Guttormsson. “We make a lot of things for them.”

Clarkfield Outdoors also reaches the auto industry, manufacturing 4,500 jackets for Cadillac, as well as 3,600 for Chevrolet.

Clarkfield Outdoors is a clothing manufacturer specializing in hunting clothes for men, women and children. They offer camouflage garments in several patterns, warn and cold weather items, as well as other casual outdoor attire.

But they now produce much more than just clothing. A colorful catalog showcases many of the items Clarkfield Outdoors can produce, but it also can custom-order just about anything a customer requests.

“That catalog is really just a suggestion catalog,” Guttormsson remarked.

“We’ve had people call and ask about a pullover sweatshirt in the catalog, but they wanted a full zipper in the front. Or they saw a thermal-lined jacket they liked but didn’t want the lining in it. No problem. We can make it to however they like it.”

Hundreds of various patterns adorn the Clarkfield Outdoors walls on hooks inside one of the manufacturing rooms. Stacks of fabric are being cut out on elongated tables.

Nearby, the humming of numerous sewing machines is prevalent. It’s all in a day’s work.

Guttormsson is feeling more comfortable in his new position with each passing day. But it wasn’t stress-free in the early stages of his new company.

“I’ve had a lot of ‘Holy crap’ moments,” he laughed.

“The day-to-day bookwork part is the toughest since I’d never really done that before. Parts of each day are a bit overwhelming, but I’m getting more comfortable all the time.”

While Schoep had a hand in almost every capacity of the business, including designing, sewing and book work, Guttormsson won’t try to duplicate all those skills.

“Someone in town once told me that I will never have the luxury of knowing everything Berdette knows,” said Guttormsson.

“And I can already see that is true.”