Golf Clothing (Loyalty to brands for value for money)

[larmen]

I am a 2 brand fan, most of the stuff I buy is Pink or Nike. I have the odd piece of different brands but it doesn't get used much. When I am shopping I 1st check what is available from those 2 before looking at other options.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Who is it I might have a look.

https://www.facebook.com/Par73apparel-446071195797059 or https://twitter.com/Par73A

Really struggled with lock down so hoping they come back bigger and better

 

[Junior]

M&S £19.50 chinos , comfy and warm.

Always prefer the non porn fit stretchy shirts. Footjoy and Oscar Jacobson are decent.

 

[clubchamp98]

M&S £19.50 chinos , comfy and warm.

Always prefer the non porn fit stretchy shirts. Footjoy and Oscar Jacobson are decent.

Non PORN FIT..?
Where else you been shopping.?

 

[TigerBear]

I wouldn't say I have a brand loyalty as I prefer to physically try out and feel the clothes I buy.

Definitely more Footjoy and Adidas in my golfing wardrobe but that will be down to the design and the quality, but I've got all sorts of brands from stubert to Galvin green.

Best of luck with the new venture.

 

[Junior]

Non PORN FIT..?
Where else you been shopping.?

Hahahaha, Nothing worse than a middle aged man in a spray on polo is what I meant...... honestly.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Non PORN FIT..?
Where else you been shopping.?

The phrase Athletic Fit always sends a shudder through me .

 

[Doon frae Troon]

If you already have your factories in Bangladesh/China, your worldwide contacts and distribution systems set up, you might have the tiniest fraction of a chance of breaking into a market that thousands have already tried to conquer.
If not, I wouldn't bother.

Very true.
As an example the M&S golf brand did not last very long.

Mind you one of my old work colleagues went off to work for Nike clothing in the late 1980's.
We all thought he was mad as we had never heard of the company.

 

[Dando]

The phrase Athletic Fit always sends a shudder through me .

The phrase athletic fit always sends me to another rail of clothes!

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Athletic fit makes me look pregnant ??

 

[Dando]

Athletic fit makes me look pregnant ??

You mean you’re not? ?

 

[jmf1488]

Last year Adidas spent about 150m on research and development. They have been in the game years doing this. How does one just open a company and make clothes at the same quality and sell it for much less?

 

[sunshine]

Last year Adidas spent about 150m on research and development. They have been in the game years doing this. How does one just open a company and make clothes at the same quality and sell it for much less?

1. By using other people's research / products e.g. Adidas waterproof jacket has a goretex membrane, which Adidas didn't develop. Goretex will sell their product to other companies.
2. By employing people from Adidas etc. with the know-how. Loads of equipment brands have been started by people leaving major brands to go solo, or poaching designers etc. eg Dean Snell helped develop the Pro V1, was poached by Adidas TM to develop the TP5 and now has his own venture.
3. By avoiding huge marketing spend on super stars. Getting Tiger to wear your product is very effective but very expensive. Doesn't cost very much to sponsor Aaron Rai but look how his profile has grown in the last couple of weeks. Or even avoid endorsements completely like Snell.
4. By using the same suppliers as the major brands. The factories in China making Adidas tops will also make similar quality tops for you.
5. By cutting your margins, recognising this is a marathon not a sprint so there will be no profits until the brand is established.
6. By producing a differentiated product that stands out and appeals to consumers i.e. understand your niche market really well. Differentiating on price alone is unlikely to be successful in the long term without economies of scale.
7. By starting from a position of strength i.e. wealthy backers, proven success in an adjacent field.

It's really tough but it is possible to compete.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Last year Adidas spent about 150m on research and development. They have been in the game years doing this. How does one just open a company and make clothes at the same quality and sell it for much less?

Was that purely on golf or across the board. Given how deep they are into football (kits, boots etc) I'd say their golf attire would be small fry in that sum

 

[jmf1488]

1. By using other people's research / products e.g. Adidas waterproof jacket has a goretex membrane, which Adidas didn't develop. Goretex will sell their product to other companies.
2. By employing people from Adidas etc. with the know-how. Loads of equipment brands have been started by people leaving major brands to go solo, or poaching designers etc. eg Dean Snell helped develop the Pro V1, was poached by Adidas TM to develop the TP5 and now has his own venture.
3. By avoiding huge marketing spend on super stars. Getting Tiger to wear your product is very effective but very expensive. Doesn't cost very much to sponsor Aaron Rai but look how his profile has grown in the last couple of weeks. Or even avoid endorsements completely like Snell.
4. By using the same suppliers as the major brands. The factories in China making Adidas tops will also make similar quality tops for you.
5. By cutting your margins, recognising this is a marathon not a sprint so there will be no profits until the brand is established.
6. By producing a differentiated product that stands out and appeals to consumers i.e. understand your niche market really well. Differentiating on price alone is unlikely to be successful in the long term without economies of scale.
7. By starting from a position of strength i.e. wealthy backers, proven success in an adjacent field.

It's really tough but it is possible to compete.

I get the likes of Sunderland of Scotland can make a high quality goretex waterpoofs. Same as Taylormade poaching from titleist. These are all well established brands with the infrastructure in place to produce quality items. Im looking at it from the perspective of Joe Bloggs knocking a couple designs up and saying its the same as the like of Nike or Adidas in terms of quality and a fraction of the price.

You go online and youll find Nike polos ranging from £25 to over £60. The difference between the cheap and dearer ones is the quality.

Was that purely on golf or across the board. Given how deep they are into football (kits, boots etc) I'd say their golf attire would be small fry in that sum

https://report.adidas-group.com/2019/en/group-management-report-our-company/innovation.html

I would say a lot of their tech that goes into clothing and footwear could be shared across the sports and this report was only for 2019. They have been in the game years spending that kinda of money every year.

 

[sunshine]

I get the likes of Sunderland of Scotland can make a high quality goretex waterpoofs. Same as Taylormade poaching from titleist. These are all well established brands with the infrastructure in place to produce quality items. Im looking at it from the perspective of Joe Bloggs knocking a couple designs up and saying its the same as the like of Nike or Adidas in terms of quality and a fraction of the price.

I agree it is very competitive, but in the last 20 years Under Armour and now Gymshark have started from scratch and demonstrated that you can take on the giants like Nike and Adidas.

Also in respect to golf, J Lindeberg and Peter Millar have successfully broken into the golf clothing market at the more premium end. Thinking of equipment, PXG has appeared out of nowhere - but I can't say they are a fraction of the price

 

[Grant85]

I generally buy Nike or Under Armour stuff at relatively low prices from outlets, Sports Direct, County Golf etc.

In fairness, this is fine, it looks tidy, is good quality and decent value for money.

In terms of Shorts, I get on great with Tesco shorts that are £10 or £12. Tidy, comfortable and decent quality and no one need know they are cheap.

Issue I feel is that I can be very hard on golf clothes. Especially trousers that tend to wear at the top of the thighs, and jumpers / polos wear with carrying my clubs (which I enjoy doing, although I do use a trolley a reasonable amount of the time as well). So I can't justify buying top end brands.

I am also guilty of getting an item of clothing that is a good fit and basically wearing it almost every time I go out. So they take an absolute hammering and after a few months are basically done. Def need to get into the habit of having more of a rotation so it stays in good nick for longer, then I might justify buying nicer stuff.

 

[IanM]

Def need to get into the habit of having more of a rotation so it stays in good nick for longer, then I might justify buying nicer stuff.

I try and do this otherwise "favourites" get over worn. I worked out which items were rarely worn and they went to the charity shop.

I am prone to buy stuff I don't really need when it appears on the sale-rail...

 

[Slab]

One of my favourite golf brands is a small South African company called SWAGG (mostly supplying 'club' branded gear for pro shops) Decent quality and value and cheaper than adidas/callaway/nike type stuff, so there's still room for the small guy out there with good products

 

[Chico84]

Something I’ve become more aware of in recent times is the sustainability credentials of the clothing I wear. Yes, I have clothing from brands with less than perfect records in this area, but I will try to buy stuff that has better credentials where I can. I realise this sometimes comes at a price point but it doesn’t always have to.

I have found it difficult to dig up much info on golf specific brands. There is obviously more on companies like Nike, Adidas, etc. If you were looking to differentiate yourself In the market then the sustainability angle could be one way of doing so. Having a transparent supply chain is a good start so you know where your materials come from, how your labour force is treated and paid (living wage), etc. Then there are the environmental aspects in terms of recycling of material, types of material you use, packaging, waste reduction, etc.

You’ve quoted Gymshark a couple of times. I see the appeal - turning a bedroom outfit into a multi million pound empire sounds great. Whilst they have some initiatives on recycling of packaging their sustainability creds seem to get a bit less clear after that. I suspect, but can’t say for sure, that those sorts of growth figures don’t happen quickly without some severe cost savings somewhere along the line. I’m not saying they aren’t looking after their garment workers, but there’s no evidence to prove they are either. They have anti slavery process in place but I’d hope that would be an obvious minimum. They do say they know they need to do more but until the point their supply chain becomes more transparent I won’t buy their clothing.

I realise this isn’t as important for everyone but I feel that I’m in a fortunate position to have a reasonable wage that allows me to shop around based, not only on the form and functionality of an item but also on its ethical qualities too. I hope this is a trend that will increase, lowering the financial barrier of entry for the consumer through increasing economies of scale.