Golf Shirts - A Guide to Sound Purchasing
Brent Uhl, Sr. Merchandising Manager, Russell Artwear

Do you know how to match your customer with the right golf shirt? Are you leaving money on the table and your customerıs allegiance up in the air? Golf shirts represent one of the most important and most profitable product lines for commercial embroiderers. Yet, it can be difficult to communicate quality differences between products in this category. Here are some tips to help you give your customers the right advice and your profit line a boost as well.

Starting at the Beginning 

First, you have to forget everything youıve learned about other apparel product categories. For tees and fleece, many people assume the heavier the product the higher the quality. That is far from true with golf shirts. A 7 oz. golf shirt may be far lower in quality and price point than a 5 oz. shirt. Instead, you have to look at yarn, fabric, stitching details, trims and construction to determine which shirts are higher quality than others.  Look for combed, ringspun yarns in better products. These yarns receive more processing than open-end yarns and yield a softer, stronger fabric surface. You will more likely find open-end yarns used in lower priced goods designed for uniforms and low cost souvenirs; however, the price differences between combed ringspun and open-end shirts often arenıt that large, so donıt make the assumption that this quality detail isnıt available at your customerıs price point.

Fabrics

Yarns used for golf shirts can come in 100% cotton or cotton/poly blends.  Many consumers equate cotton to higher quality and more comfort. Although that perception is likely to remain for some time, reality is much more complicated.  Over the past five years, there has been a revolution in developing performance fabrics using blends. Recently, these fabric innovations have started making their way into the corporate apparel market in high priced products. Keep your eyes open for new innovative products when you have customers looking for gifts or when theyıre planning corporate golf outings.  Everyone wants a good value but value depends on more than just price.  

Knit Construction Primer

Yes, there are some golf shirts that are not pique. Although golf shirts in this market principally involve the familiar honeycomb construction of pique, there actually are several other types of golf shirts, such as jersey and interlock, which have smoother surfaces for decorating and may meet your customersı needs more appropriately.  You are already familiar with jersey knits. T-shirts are jersey knits and, although some very fine golf shirts also are made with the same construction, most of the jersey golf shirts in our marketplace tend to be lighter weight and lower priced. If you have customers with high employee turnover in a business where image isnıt particularly important, jersey knits might be an alternative to consider.  Interlock shirts, like jersey knits, have a smooth outer surface and a smooth inner surface, also, because they use double knit construction. Many higher priced shirts use interlock fabrics because of their ability to tie into patterns and stripes. Customers looking for corporate catalog apparel with a fashion edge should consider interlock fabrications, but, sometimes these shirts have problems with after-wash performance. They can "grow" in size after washing and lose shape.  Piques have dominated the corporate apparel market because they have such versatility. They support embroidery well, generally look good after washing and let the designer add fashion easily through collar treatments and trims. Itıs hard to go wrong with a good pique.

Other Quality Factors

Yarns and fabric construction are two key quality components, but you also have to watch placket construction and stitching details. Better knit products typically use set-on plackets where the plackets are stitched down.  It produces a very finished looking garment. Another popular collar is the Alan Solby, which is found in less expensive styles. It usually leads to a product that is not as cleanly finished because it isnıt completely stitched down.  With stitching, the emphasis is looking for products where the manufacturer uses cover stitching with the seams. This adds a nice finishing detail to products.

Product Usage

How your customer intends to use the product is the most important consideration in recommending a golf shirt. Ask questions about whom the employee will interact with and what image the customer is trying to convey.  Customers looking for employee uniforms where image is less important than price will lead you to consider blended fabrics with basic styling. On the other hand, uniform usage for a company where image is important will lead you to consider more fashion-oriented, all cotton products, particularly those with fashionable collar and placket treatments. Customers seeking products for corporate catalogs or white-collar employees give you more latitude to introduce more fashion and better knits.  

Donıt make the assumption that the customer has perfect knowledge of whatıs available. Show alternatives that you know will work at the stated price point, but also those just above it. The customer will know youıve done your homework in an effort to give good advice, while you could benefit by upselling the customer to a more profitable sale.