This story of Redvanly starts off like many of the start-up brands we review on GolfThreads. A small group of passionate athletes sets out to transform the landscape of golf fashion. They create a business plan, design and develop products, create a good-looking website, and launch a line of clothes focused on expanding the reach of the industry.
This is the point in the start-up story where five-year-old Redvanly diverges from the pack. Rather than designing clothes for the easy going, laid back golfer, Andrew Redvanly, and his team design technologically advanced clothes for the passionate golfer and athlete. The ethos of the company is rooted in being a premier brand for athletes by athletes.
“The big message of our company is every item we design and produce has performance in it. Our focus is being a premier athletic brand,” Andrew said.
Redvanly Core Values
Redvanly was founded in 2013 by Andrew Redvanly across the river from Manhattan in Jersey City. Andrew and his cousin, Eric, have methodically grown the company over the past five years. Their current line includes men’s golf and tennis apparel and a full line of women’s clothes. Moving forward they want to expand their lines for golf and tennis and move the brand towards other individual sports, such as running.
“We started Redvanly because we believed there was a space for a great athletic brand,” Andrew said.“We want to design clothes for individual athletes competing in individual sports. We want to be able to touch runners, golfers, and tennis players.”
My colleagues at GolfThreads have done a great job chronicling Redvanly’s launch and background, here, and past collections, here and here. As a golfer who views the game as an athletic endeavor just like basketball, baseball, or football, I immediately connected with Andrew and his company’s focus.
The company is wading into challenging waters controlled by brands with teams many times larger than Redvanly. I admire the leadership approach and it is refreshing to see a company lean towards the athletic side of the golf apparel Industry. As a former competitive hockey player and aspiring hockey agent, Andrew has grown-up in the world of athletics and set out to make products for strong performance with outstanding fit and quality.
Tencel Fabric – Performance & Comfort
As the game of golf has evolved, so have the fabrics. Redvanly designs their clothes with a combination of Tencel and Polyester. Tencel is a wood pulp based synthetic material that is softer than silk, 50% more absorbent than cotton, and breathable. When combined with polyester, the fabric can soak up sweat, and then distribute the moisture off the body extremely efficiently. A nice combination, and to boot, the material is more environmentally friendly than cotton or other synthetic fabrics.
When you first touch the soft fabric, you think you have stepped back in a time machine and are about to have the sleeves go to below your elbows. Once you realize the sleeves hit in the right location, at your mid-bicep, your next thought is this shirt is going to be soaking up sweat like my old high school t-shirts. However, I am here to tell you after two hours hitting balls in the Texas heat, the shirt moved well with no bunching or bulkiness.
2018 Redvanly Men’s & Women’s Collections
Redvanly’s latest collection features a stylish combination of prints, solids, and patterns. My favorite item of this season is the Thatcher Polo, combining a solid body with a subtle pattern on the sleeves. This is a great-looking polo that you will want in every color. While wearing the Thatcher Polo I kept thinking I had a small advantage on my playing partners.
All the Redvanly items are fashion-forward, from the men’s golf polos to the tennis crews and especially in the women’s category, which I am happy to report is, for once, more robust than the men’s line. Performance throughout the products has not been sacrificed for fashion, which is important for athletes wanting to look good while playing well.
“Our focus is on performance, first and foremost, we want people who wear our clothes to play well, compete, and win.”
Moving forward, the brand plans to focus growth by driving customers to its website and green grass accounts. They will continue their slow and steady approach by enhancing their golf line with shorts and outerwear for men and knits for women. The design will continue to focus on modern European prints and colors, moving to a darker palette for the fall line.
Conclusion
Redvanly faces stiff competition and an uphill battle to gain traction in the golf fashion industry. Connecting to customers directly through its website, and not through third-party distributors, will enable the company to build a close connection to the end user. It will, however, reduce brand exposure through retail outlets. By following a plan and being resilient, Andrew and the leadership team has created a high-performance athletic apparel company that can confidently compete with the latest technology from the sneaker brands. Andrew and the team are rooted in important values that can lead to long-term success.
Ian, Which do you like more the dot polo or the Stillman? Both are incredibly sharp and trendy.
Jim, have to go with the dot Polo. Either option would be a great addition to your golf wardrobe.
Cheers,
Ian