SwingDish | Photo courtesy of SwingDish
FAIRWAY FASHIONS
PGA Show Spotlights Fashion Fore Front Brands
Looking stylish on the golf course has the amazing power to mitigate against the vicissitudes of this most maddening of games. And since the lines between work, play and dinner on the town have become as foggy as a morning in St. Andrews, Scotland, where golf was born, golf apparel is morphing into something that can be worn dusk to dawn for the active golfer.
At the recent PGA Show Buying & Education Summit, held July 11–12 at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa, one company in particular caught our attention for its versatile styling and impressive sales figures.
SwingDish was founded by Tricia Covel, wife of country star Toby Keith, and two daughters. The pandemic may have brought other industries to a screeching halt, but not golf, which was able to stop its declining participation numbers as it was a socially distanced outdoor activity. Forty percent of new golfers are now women, and SwingDish’s revenues are up a whopping 3,200 percent since the start of COVID.
“We want women to have a versatile wardrobe they can wear on the golf course,” said Sales and Marketing Director and co-founder Krystal Sandubrae, “and transition to their everyday lifestyle since golfers tend to live in golfwear but don’t always like their clothes or think they’re fashionable.”
There are 921 golf courses in the state of California, and another brand you’re likely to see is Mizzen + Main. While some brands start with golf apparel and then make it suitable for the rest of an active lifestyle, Mizzen + Main started the other way around, making a name for itself by creating the first performance-fabric dress shirt before moving on to a full collection for the casual workplace.
The brand’s new Golf Essentials collection consists of performance polos with fitted cuts, shorts in novelty prints and a variety of long-sleeve tops for when the wind blows over Pebble Beach. “With moisture-wicking, wrinkle-resistant and four-way stretch fabric,” said the company, “our pants, polos and pullovers take you straight from back-to-back meetings to back-to-back birdies—trusted by PGA players and double-digit handicappers alike.”
