Aphira hires national sales manager
Aphira adds veteran golf apparel sales professional Eric Montiel to its team as national sales manager.
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Thursday, July 19, 2007
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NEWS Sorenstam, C&B team to create websiteAnnika Sorenstam announces the launch of her official website, www.annikasorenstam.com, which was built in conjunction with Cutter & Buck.  PGA Fall Expo adds more participantsBobby Jones, Greg Norman, Jamie Sadock and Ping Apparel return to the 2007PGA Fall Expo, Sept. 11-12 in Las Vegas, Nev. They will join Callaway, Nike, Cutter & Buck, Antigua and more than 400 other companies that are participating in the event. FEATUREThe European Tour of Golf Fashion
By Janice Ferguson
A few of the brands will be easily recognizable since they have a strong U.S. presence, but others might sound new as they begin to forge their names into the western hemisphere. The tour begins in the United Kingdom, where a sport-loving Dutchman named Frank Van Wezel founded Hi-Tec footwear in 1974. What began with the first specialized squash shoe has grown into a major worldwide sports brand boasting over 500 styles and sales of more than 18 million pairs throughout 80 countries. In addition to Hi-Tec Golf, there is Hi-Tec Outdoor, Hi-Tec Court, Hi-Tec Sport, Urban collections and Magnum brands. Appropriately, the company began in the village of Shoeburyness and continues its headquarters in Essex, England. Hi-Tec attributes its success to developing attractive, comfortable, lightweight high-quality footwear for outdoors, golf and court sport activities and at a fair price. V-Lite, or Vertical Build System, is the revolutionary concept from Hi-Tec Sports that combines innovative materials to help build a lightweight shoe without compromising performance or comfort. The CDT launch pad outsole was 18 months in development and comes with a warning: CDT golf shoes will greatly increase power and accuracy.
Heading south to Paris, France, we expect to see high-end fashion, superior quality and the utmost level of style. Find them all and more in Marie Valois' golf apparel for women and men. Beginning in 1984, Valois laid her first claim by designing a bag for the Sony Handycam. From there she went on to innovate and invent the first windbreaker made in microfibers, and the first stretch waterproof rain suit. Her first complete golf collection came in 1987, under the label Carven Golf.
In 2004, the men's collection was redesigned in a more asserted style, but with a fun trend. The following year launched Marie Valois North America Inc., marketing the line in Canada, the Caribbean Islands, and the U.S. Precision style for a precision game, last season's "golf addict"-themed collection shows off the attention to detail that is evident in each piece of clothing. Hop-scotching east to Kitzbühel, Austria, we land at Sportalm, one of the best-known clothing companies in that country -- particularly for ski wear and unique, traditional Austrian costume. Led by CEO Wilhelm Ehrilich, Sportalm has produced active lifestyle apparel for more than 30 years. With showrooms in Salzburg, Vienna, Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, and Hong Kong, the company displays its edgy, modern creations developed by its state-of-the-art computer technology design department.
Time now to head north to Germany where we find the Duca del Cosma golf shoe company located in Freising, and Golfino Sportwear in Hamburg. Golfino was founded in 1986 by Christel and Bernd Kirsten, and began as a line of humorous golf embroideries and applications. The knitwear specialists soon developed as a manufacturer of complete golf outfits sporting style of understated elegance, yet paired with comfort and good taste to create dependable fashion. Quality is the company's top priority -- sourcing fabrics from the foremost textile factories in Europe, and having its own sample department produce first prototypes ensures the perfection of the product. Teams of technicians control production in specialized Portuguese workshops, with Golfino knitwear coming from Italy, and the high-tech jackets and rain suits produced in Hong Kong from Japanese fabrics. "The World is a Golf Course" motto defines Golfino's strategy to market the leisurewear brand to golf shops and selected boutiques all over Western Europe. Duca del Cosma, which sounds a bit more like a luxury resort destination is actually a shoe company. Its tag line is "Golf Evolution," and the Italian-designed footwear is very evolutionary, if not revolutionary. Sleek, modern, creative, yet still functional and comfortable - up to and including the eclectic winter golf boot - is the standard for Duca del Cosma's lines. The shoes are made from the finest calf leathers to ensure high quality and comfort, and have an orthopedic sole insert that guarantees dryness and breathability. The Italian passion and joy for life inspire the designs that merge old world beauty with trendy cosmopolitan to create an interesting harmony between sport and mode. Duca del Cosma's website has a shopping link, (and currently a sale), but it is not set up to ship outside of Europe yet. Do look for the company to exhibit at the PGA Fall Expo in Las Vegas, Sept. 11-12 -- a hint it plans to make a jump into the U.S. market. A skip north takes us to Denmark, which is home to one of the biggest names in golf and lifestyle shoes - Ecco. For more than 40 years it has relentlessly studied the human foot in order to produce a golf shoe designed to let feet stand, step, flex, stretch and breathe. Leading this passion for excellence since 1963 is the Toosbuy family. Hanni Toosbuy Kasprzak, the daughter of Birte and Karl Toosbuy, is the sole owner of Ecco and chairperson of the supervisory board. Her husband, Dieter Kasprzak, is president. Karl Toosbuy's business philosophy and outlook on life has characterized Ecco since the company's inception. He walked the talk, teaching his family and employees that results are created by people who believe they will shape the future by doing things differently. Ecco does not aim to be the biggest, only the best as it constantly strives to defy convention and develop innovative designs without compromising quality and comfort. Our final destination circles us back to London, England, for a visit to J. Lindeberg. Most of us are familiar with the non-conformist design, precision fit, and unique details that Camilo Villegas and Jesper Parnevik often sport on the PGA Tour. But golf is only a portion of the international lifestyle apparel brand that is spearheaded by a husband and wife team. The "J" in J. Lindeberg stands for Johan, who established his company in New York and Stockholm in 1996. There are now 10 flagship stores and distribution in more than 25 countries selling the brands that include J. Lindeberg Concept, Progressive Tailoring, j.lindeberg.denim and Future Sports. Along with his wife, Marcella, creative director of women's wear, the vision to create a 21st century lifestyle brand for the modern consumer is fast becoming a reality. Johan's background includes positions as international marketing director and CEO of Diesel USA. His ambition for creating the technical sportswear brand extension of JL Golf and JL Ski was to inspire one of the most conservative cultures by offering modern versions of classic basic apparel that appealed to individualists of all ages. Lindeberg describes his business in metaphorical musical terms. "We are like a rock band," he said. "Even if I am the lead singer, we have fantastic musicians. I produce and conduct the tunes but we still need a guitarist and a drummer, and once you find the right rhythm it all takes off from there." This concludes our fashion tour - we hope you enjoyed it and have safe travels home. |
 
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