Typically, start-up brands do not have a huge Tour presence, but they are instrumental in driving fashion trends and performance innovations in the game of golf from the ground up. One such brand is Redvanly.
The Redvanly’s simple and clean designs speak to where the game of golf, and life for that matter, is today. Its range of polos, t-shirts and hats are hip, energetic, athletic and seamlessly transition through daily activities. Redvanly caught my eye on Instagram a couple of years ago, but what really grabbed my attention was the fact that Trendygolf began selling the brand’s apparel earlier this year. If the folks at Trendygolf are distributing your product, it means three things – it is stylish, functional and high quality.
I recently had the chance to talk with Andrew Redvanly, the label’s founder, about starting the brand, the unique high performance blend of fabric he is using, the 5-panel cap trend and more. Enjoy!
GolfThreads: What was the inspiration behind starting Redvanly?
Andrew Redvanly: I loved being an athlete and competing. Athletics have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and I loved everything about them. How you had to work hard to get better. How you learned how to compete. How you figured out how to win. How losing knocked you down. How you found a way to get back up after. I believe every bit of this shaped me as a person and in some strange way led me to where I am today. So when I was deciding what to do with myself after college I kept coming back to athletics. I knew I had to do something inside of this world and that is when I started to develop the idea to create REDVANLY.
GT: Your polo shirts are fabricated from a very unique blend of Tencel, polyester and spandex. How did you arrive at this blend? What performance benefits does it provide?
AR: We were lucky enough to get introduced to this blend at the very beginning and after looking at many great fabrics this was clearly the best choice for us. I really liked the fact the fabric had a much softer hand then your typical tech fabric. But more importantly, I liked how it performed. As most people know, Polyester and elastane (the two primary components of our fabric) wick moisture away. But if the garment is composed 100 percent of synthetic fibers, it will actually resist your sweat in the beginning because it wants to push it away. Our shirts perform better because the small percentage of Tencel in our garment attracts water. So when you are sweating the Tencel will pull sweat from your skin and bring it into the shirt allowing you to stay cooler/dryer. Once the sweat is in the garment the polyester and Tencel overpower Tencel and wick away your sweat. So long story short, we loved the fact that we could get a very high performing garment that also has a super soft hand.
GT: 5-panel caps have been a huge trend in street wear and athletic wear over the past few years. Redvanly was one of the first golf apparel labels to bring this style of cap to the fairways. Why does this style of cap work so well with the modern game? What types of performance features have you built into your 5-panel cap for golf?
AR: Typically, men are wearing a baseball style cap or a visor on the golf course but as the game keeps evolving I thought that we should too. We developed the 5-panel to offer another type headwear option for the modern golfer. The Hamilton 5-Panel is composed from a lightweight Nylon Rib. It’s also great to wear when it’s wet out as it holds off the rain very nicely.
GT: Your cousin is your business partner. What qualities do each of you bring to the table that contribute to Redvanly’s success?
AR: I think we both have a good attitude with understanding that in the early years we have and will continue to be juggling many different roles inside of our business. Whether it’s sales, PR, production, shipping etc. there is a lot to do and we understand that in order to be successful you have to learn how to be good at wearing many different hats throughout each day.
GT: How would you describe your personal style? How does your personal style influence your designs?
AR: Clean, yet modern. I believe our use of subtle color blocking expresses my personal style fairly well. That being said, we have a great lead designer in Julia Woolmer who we work closely with. She is one of the best designers out there, so it’s a privilege to get to work and design with her!
GT: I’ve read that you have a killer collection of cardigans. What is it about cardigans that speak to your fashion sensibilities? Will we see a performance cardigan from Redvanly at some point?
AR: Ha-ha, I appreciate the versatility of them. I like how you can dress them down or up. Keep your eye out for them soon!
GT: Your Spring 2016 Collection looks fantastic. It is very clean, modern and athletic. What are you most excited about with this collection?
AR: As a young company we have always believed in starting small and growing at the right pace. Slowly, but surely, has been the phrase. The part that is tricky is being able to truly showcase your vision and look through smaller lines. We are releasing our largest line for spring/summer 2016 and I believe it will do the best job yet of displaying our look and brand identity to date.
GT: Where can we find Redvanly apparel?
AR: We are currently sold at www.redvanly.com and 100 stores across the US and Canada. We project to reach the 200 mark by Spring 2016. You can see our current stockists at www.redvanly.com/pages/stockists.
Redvanly on the web: Redvanly.com
Redvanly on Facebook: Facebook.com/Redvanly
Redvanly on Instagram: @redvanly
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