What Makes a Fly Pattern "New?"

Ever wonder how a fly pattern makes it onto the radar of fly supplier Umpqua or into an Orvis or Cabela’s catalog?
What you and I choose to fill our fly boxes with each spring is largely determined by the selections these suppliers make months ahead of time, based partly on price, availability, and quality. But sellers are always in search of new eye-candy, especially the pattern that will break the mold and promise more and bigger fish. (The old saying that flies are designed to attract fly fishers, not fish, is as true as it ever was.)
This week Phil Monahan answers a reader’s question about what — from the perspective of the supplier — makes a fly innovative enough to be considered “new.”