Feather Extensions Take Flight in Fashion Industry

From the back of a rooster to the back of your head, feathers are becoming a hot new hair trend from Hollywood to Hollidaysburg, and feather extensions are floating into a salon near you!

So how'd they get there?  We decided to head to the farm and find out.

Ever since Steven Tyler wore feathers in his hair on American Idol, feather extensions have taken the beauty world by storm.

"My name is Rick Dailey.  I am the General Manager of the METZ Division of Umqua Feather Merchants, and we grown feathers for the fly-tying industry," said Dailey.

Rick has been raising roosters in Mifflin county for 27 years.  He sells their feathers to be made into flies for fly fishing.

"Here's a saddle.  It's about six or seven inches from completion," said Dailey.

But now those feathers are catching more than just fish.

"I received a call in early January from a man out in the Midwest, who wanted to come in and talk to me about a business venture.  I basically laughed at him.  I never imagined it in my wildest dreams that this would ever make it into the beauty industry," said Dailey.

Women everywhere are putting those feathers into their hair.

"When you roll that over, everyone of these feathers right here is those long narrow feathers that they're desiring for the salon business," said Dailey.

"We still just can't hardly believe that people are going to pay us for our feathers to use as a fashion statement, but they are and I've got to tell you, having seen it on several people, it looks nice, and I didn't think it would.  When these people approached me in January and told me what was going on, I just thought that was ridiculous, but it looks nice," said Dailey.

And over the past several months this trend has exploded, changing Rick's entire business plan.

"I guess they had gone into the fly shops originally and just cleaned the shelves out, and when they ran out of that they started coming backwards to the source and when they found us the individual salon owners were calling us everyday and it was, it was 15-20 calls a day and they were asking us for anything that we could get 'em," said Dailey.

But he isn't complaining.

"It is a shot in the arm for the industry.  The salon owners are paying a lot more than the fly tiers ever paid for these feathers," said Dailey.

"It's been very interesting because it's a whole different dynamic than the fly-tying industry.  The clientele, the people, they way they do business, it's been fun and enjoyable.  It's been a nice change of pace," said Dailey.