There is no reality in which real fishermen are baiting traps in an $800 cable-knit sweater. It’s not happening. But that hasn’t stopped the world from falling head over boots for fisherman-core — the Pinterest-predicted trend that’s rippled its way onto fashion week runways, high-end boutique shelves, and even the humble racks of Target.

This is how we dress now. Update the uniform policy.

This summer, everyone’s dressing like they just stepped off a dock in Maine or an artisanal fishing boat in Sicily. Nods range from the anticipated, like the classic Breton-stripe top, to the outlandish (see: the Bottega Veneta Sardine Chain Purse). It’s a full-on aesthetic flavor fantasy: chunky knits, rubber boots, weather-worn jackets, sea-salt glam nail art, and sardine printed everything.

Al-luring designs from @reallynichenails on Instagram

If you haven’t witnessed it yet, do a quick search for ‘fisherman-core 2025’. There’s reference material aplenty. And while we love a tinned-fish inspired phone case to round out our summer style, we can’t help but peel through the layers of wool, linen, and oilskin to explore what's really going on beneath the surface of this trend both for the people lapping it up, and for the seafood industry that inspired it.

The Aesthetic vs. the Reality

From the pages of Vogue to Elle Decor, the fisherman fantasy has officially arrived. People both landlocked and coastal alike are embracing the idea of seafaring culture and the wild, weathered mystique of the fishing community aesthetic. Keyword: idea.

The Portland Press Herald released a series of YouTube videos accompanying their article on the trend asking real fishermen if they would wear the look. “Is that suede?! No one’s going to be wearing that down east,” one mariner chortled. Of course not. It’s all romance, rooted in rugged, windswept archival nostalgia.

The inspiration? (c) La France Travaille - The Seafarers

The knitwear is more lighthouse ghost than deckhand. Those rubber boots have never seen the crust of fish guts (and probably never will). And you know what? That’s ok. If a soft entry makes it more accessible for the public to exercise curiosity about our world, we’re here for it.

But there is one rather crucial element missing: the seafood.

While the world feasts on the imagery, the industry that inspired it remains mostly absent.

Seafood inspired… but without the seafood?

Right now, decor stores are selling clam-shaped dishes and retro sardine printed tea towels. Nail artists are designing lobster claw cuticle art. High fashion brands are styling runway looks with knot belts and slickers. We see a golden opportunity here that screams collaboration across the board. Fish & fashion partnerships, dishware tie-ins, pop-up events, capsule collections, perhaps even a coy “lobster roll but make it couture” campaign.

Your seafood would look divine here. Just sayin. (c) Anthropologie

We’ve spotted a few smaller brands swiftly swooping in to catch the wave. But for the most part while everyone else eats up the aesthetic, the seafood businesses trading in the product this trend celebrates are… where are we? Watching? Dismissing? Silently judging maybe? But definitely not joining in.

So why is this?

Big Ships Turn Slowly — But They Can Still Turn

Is the seafood industry too slow in its lumbering pace to respond to trends like these? Are we stuck buried under grant cycles and approval bottlenecks? Fisheries are incredible at adapting on the water, but on land we seem to have the turning radius of a small moon. We hesitate, watching the cultural tide come in and think about maybe applying for a permit to swim. And yes, there are smaller brands that have swooped in on this trend like a seagull sniping a French fry — they’re nimble, they skip the approval hold-up and just go. But that doesn’t mean larger companies or organizations need to miss out entirely.

Even a small pilot project, a single seasonal partnership, or a lightweight digital activation can put a toe in the cultural water without needing a full organizational overhaul. You don’t need to launch a global campaign to signal you’re paying attention — you just need to show up somewhere.

Making Space for Opportunity Amid the Struggle

Then there is, of course, the massive drain that hoovers up energy, resources, and capacity: fire fighting. We are constantly fighting battles on all sides (and there are a lot of serious battles ongoing, it’s true). It’s understandable that in the fray of an immediate adversary, we haven’t the bandwidth to see the benefit in riding the tide of opportunity for our own positive promotion. Next to the many big issues we face, it can feel like fluff. And fluff it may be, but there are a lot of folks who are really into, and eager to embrace, that fluff.

At the end of the day, when the wars are won, we still need an audience of seafood lovers who've been nurtured to purchase the products we’ve fought so hard to produce. But here’s the secret: you don’t have to do it yourself. You can partner with content creators, influencers, or a certain set of seafood marketing experts (hi there, that’s us) who specialize in trend-responsive work, allowing your in-house teams to stay focused on the hard stuff while still keeping your brand present in the conversation.

Or is it something deeper?

Could it be a confidence thing?

Hold our hand, we’re going there.

The seafood industry is fascinating. But we don’t always believe it ourselves. There’s a quiet ache in this industry. A misfit psychology for many of us who chose this life because we didn’t feel at home in the mainstream. We liked the hard work, the hiddenness, the freedom that comes from being out at sea, and the camaraderie amongst chosen kin who ‘get it’. And now the world is knocking—not necessarily on our wheelhouses, but on our image—and we don’t know how to answer.

So we judge instead of joining, silently seething that ‘they don’t get it’, and mock it with our buddies… when maybe deep down we’re actually afraid to let them know us. Because just like everyone else on the face of this planet, we’re afraid of rejection too. What if we show them the real thing and they don’t like us?

…But what if they do?

Fisherman-core isn’t about authenticity at first swipe. It never was, so it’s best not to bother yourself by getting in a twist about it. It’s about vibe.

There is a very real shift happening for people who are oversaturated by perfection. They’re tired of the algorithmic slickness of modern life and are yearning for something realer, older, and saltier. They want narrative with texture and tidal movement. And this trend, for all that it may seem like silliness to the people actually hauling pots in the elements for a living, is a cultural signal. It says: “We want to connect. We want to believe that something more grounded exists. Even if we don’t really understand it, this is us trying.”

Well, seafood has that in spades. We have rich stories, generations of heritage and living knowledge, enough humor to break the internet, and the most versatile and delicious products at the heart of it all.

What if we met the moment with curiosity, not critique? Open up, be playful, and through that openness you have the chance to help them see it ‘right’.

A real life oyster harvester with no shortage of good spirits and stories to share at Taylor Shellfish Farm (c) Bri Dwyer, InnaSea Media

This summer, we say go with it

What if this moment is made for us? Not to sell them a trend — but to invite them into the real story. If you're a seafood business, ask yourself:

Can you collaborate with a local boutique for a “from the dock” window feature?
Could you partner with a restaurant, chef, or influencer to do a coastal cook + style series? (Make it a little tongue-in-cheek if it feels better to wrap it in humor)
Can you design packaging or brand merch that taps into the visual language people are craving?
Are you ready to show up in the conversation — not just in seafood spaces, but in style, culture, and trend? And if not, what’s stopping you?

While fisherman-core may be more fantasy than functional, that fantasy still signals a fascination with marine life, working-class grit, and ocean romanticism. And while it’s easy to roll our eyes at the impracticality, we’d be missing a massive opportunity if we didn’t see the cultural opening here.

People are yearning for a version of life where things feel a little more grounded, human, real — and they’re willing to pay, post, and celebrate the chance to even cosplay at it.

Now isn’t the time to shy away from showing our substance. Because like it or not, you’re already part of the story. The cultural current is literally dressed in your tales, textures, tools, and tones.

We might as well feed them too.

Everyone is Having Fun with Seafood… So Why Isn’t the Seafood Industry Joining In?