Golf Clothing Manufacturers for Performance Apparel Brands

Golf Wear has evolved over the last decade. Today’s golf brands merge the style of the traditional golf course with stretch fabrics, moisture management, lightweight, UV protection and wearable. For companies that want to get into golf apparel selecting the best golf clothing manufacturers can be very influential to the products, branding, and costs.

The golf collection has additional requirements. It is necessary to have a lot more flexibility for the athlete that swing, plus their clothing has to be comfortable for several hours out in the elements and keep their shape after repeated washing. It‘s the manufacturers business to understand this.

Why Golf Clothing Needs a Different Approach

Standard polo shirts are the starting point of golfwear, but the current lines are covering much more ground. One can find quarter- zips, performance polos, trousers, shorts, skirts, skorts, light jackets and other layering pieces.

A second would be movement. As you make many repeated golf swings you want to turn your shoulders and body over and over, thus constrictive construction will be uncomfortable. Using stretch fabrics and equilibriumin patterns, will allow over much more freedom without looking baggy.

Another thing that is equally important and is taken in to account is the performance of the fabric outside the swing. During the warm summer months, players might be outdoors for a couple of hours which makes breathability and ability to keep dry, drying time and protection from the sun significant.

Four-way stretch, moisture-wicking Fabrics, protection from the sun (UV), and lightweight performance fabrics seem to be the standard requirements of many of today‘s golf apparel manufacturers.

Fabric Choice Shapes the Collection

The first step in the process of choosing a fabric is: Consider what the garment function. Dose the garment function for Polyester or a Pure Cotton?

Performance polo could require a breathable pique or jersey knit with stretch and moisture management ability. Golf trousers may need a stretch woven fabric that provides complete freedom of motion. A quarter-zip might need a lightweight technical knit that is suitable to be worn as a second layer.

However, there are scenarios where a cotton-rich fabric still makes sense; when a brand is looking for more of a traditional hand feel and conventional look. Those technical synthetics blends can provide other benefits when the collection has a heavier focus on movement and moisture transfer.

Certain suppliers are blending different processes including stretch, dry, UV protection, and recycled fibers to create new fabric combinations for golf, expanding choices for brands putting together performance lines.

The Polo Still Sets the Standard

The polo shirt still plays an important part in many golf collections but a golf polo or a better end premium golf polo needs a lot more work in the way it is assembled.

The collar should hold a stable shape. The placket should be balanced in all areas. The shoulder seams should sit right when body is in motion. The sleeve openings should allow movement of the arm without bulk.

Placement of the logo must also be considered. Embroidering can alter the hand of light weight fabrics and large prints can impact breathability and visual appearance.

This is why brands need to monitor the entire garment, and not select one manufacturer on the strength of one attractive polo.

Golfwear Now Extends Beyond the Course

Golf style is much more commonplace with casual and lifestyle apparels. A customer might wear a quarter-zip to go to the clubhouse, a polo to go to lunch, or golf slacks when traveling.

That trend creates a chance for brands to develop collections, instead of selling one-off golf shirts. As we discussed with the button-down shirts, repeating fabric family, color story, logo treatment and fit concept could have a seamless way to connect polos with outerwear and pants.

A handful of golf apparel manufacturers are currently producing lines that include polos, quarter-zips, trousers, shorts, skirts, dresses, jackets, and accessories.

An experienced manufacturer in different class No doubt a manufacturer with experience in various categories can lead the brand to attractive product portfolio.

Fit Deserves More Attention Than Decoration

If we consider golf clothing to have the following requirement where performance and image (visual appearance of clothing) are balanced.

A too sloppy shirt may allow all the movement needed, but falls short of the clean silhouette so many Golf brands like. An extremely tight piece of clothing may look great but limit right arm movement during the swing.

Women‘s golfwear introduces another element of fit. Skorts, dresses, skirts, polos and outerwear all demand different types of mobility and proportion.

The fitting should test the movement as well as the fit. Try walking, bending, swinging, reaching and sitting. These movements bring out problems that won‘t be seen during a static fitting.

Branding Can Change the Product Experience

Private-labeled golfwear offers an opportunity for brands to develop their unique personality.

All of these: woven labels, printed care labels, embroidery, heat transfers, custom buttons, zippers, hangtags, packaging, and details can be incorporated onto a product to create a collection. The difficulty is selecting which decoration techniques are feasible with the fabric.

A lightweight performance polo could be a little different than a heavier cotton garment with embroidery. Sublimation is one additional method for some synthetics and all-over graphics.

Golf manufacturers now promote combinations of embroidery, printing, woven labels, and other customized branding options for private-label programs.

Production Volume Changes the Economics

Golf brands can vary enormously in scale. A new label may launch with a few hundred units across only a handful of styles; an existing manufacturer may place a few thousand units for a seasonal line.

Production volume plays a role on fabric buying, factory programming, development costs and unit prices. Also the volume might influence the manufacturing partner makes the most sense.

A few golf apparel companies offer low minimums for smaller runs, others work on larger production programs. One manufacturer, for instance, is currently offering a minimum of 20 per style, one other refers to production programs of 2,000 and up.

What is significant here is not search for the lowest MOQ or the biggest factory. Just find a manufacturer that has a production model that will fit your business.

Performance Claims Need Verification

Golf apparel brands frequently tout the benefits of these characteristics: moisture wicking, UV protection, stretch recovery, quick dry, wrinkle free.

Make sure your claims have technical backing. If a specific standard is important for your product, find out the fabric makeup, test procedures, performance specifications, and certification.

A fabric might be labeled by a supplier as “UV protective” but by another as a particular UPF. Those statements are not equivalent in quantity of information.

There is clarity of specifications when you are doing a re-order of the same style and also when you develop another style of the same fabric program.

Production Location Can Affect Your Strategy

Various manufacturing regions such as China, Vietnam, the US, South Korea, Peru, etc. are capable of supplying different types of production of golf clothing.

The optimum site for the best location will vary in terms of product and business model. The needs of technical performance knitwear might benefit from closeness to the best availability of the textile suppliers. Equally, a better quality cotton program may necessitate a different supply chain.

Existing sources for golf manufacturing indicate that suppliers are currently located throughout China, Peru, South Korea and the United States. Various manufacturers focus on either technical performance, high quality raw materials and domestic manufacturing.

So compare the manufacturing ecosystem (surrounding the factory) instead of the country.

Questions Golf Brands Should Ask

Before choosing a manufacturing partner, ask:

• What kinds of golf equipment do you make on a regular basis?
• Which performance fabrics are available to you?
• Can you provide bespoke fabrics?
• Where do you have to test stretch and recovery?
• Golf polos only, would it be possible to develop the collar and placket.
• Are you able to take collections for men and women?
• Which methods of decoration best suits your fabrics?
• Which types of outputs (quantities) do you more often accept?
• Is fabric consistency achievable for repeat ordering?
• How do you ensure quality?
• Can you facilitate private-label packaging and branding?

The answers will provide you with a lot more than that from the manufacturer.

Building a Golf Collection That Can Grow

A good manufacturing relationship should enable more than the first polo.

If a manufacturer hits on the right fabric and fit for a brand, it can build on that base to add quarter-zip sweaters, trousers, shorts, skirts, jackets, or whatever. And a good manufacturer will know the customer‘s original pattern as well as anyone to keep all the pieces cohesive.

JiuvelWear collaborates with fashion brands for individual piece development and production. Dongguan Jiuzuo Clothing Co.,Ltd. assists on fabric sourcing, sample development, production, inspection and quality control.

When selecting a manufacturer to produce golf apparel, brand managers must find one that understands both the technical side of the product, which gives golfers comfort while playing, as well as the small details in the design, which will make people desire to wear it.

That balance is what can make a simple line of golfwear into a more established clothing brand.