An Interview With Sean Greg From Antigua

This year, Antigua Golf Apparel based out of Scotsdale, Arizona, is celebrating their 30th Anniversary. It is well known that they routinely test their products under the hottest Desert conditions, so it is no wonder why they are experienced in their superior ability to create dry, comfortable golf apparel. Antigua is the preferred choice for many professional players including Payne Steward, Tom Watson, Bill Mayfair, Annika Sorestam, Richard Swift, the U.S. Ryer Cup Team, and Steve Stricker.

Q: Desert Dry is comparable to Nike and Adidas manufacturing technology but now you have introduced Desert Dry X-tra Light, what is the difference in technology?

A. As most people know, we've had the Desert Dry for a number of years now. Basically how it's built is through a two dimensional constructional process, First, knits are woven together in a certain way for function and wick features. The second part of the process is a finishing stage for their breathability, design, and style. The Desert Dry X-tra Light is a three dimensional process that makes it extremely lightweight without being see through. We engineer a pattern into the shirt by taking a very lightweight yarn that emulates a jersey mesh material and weaving shiny and dull yarn in such a way to create a pattern that is viewed easily from one angle, but if you are looking straight on you almost can not see the pattern. We also create a houndstooth pattern using an embossing process.

Houndstooth the name of a textile pattern, it is a alternating jagged checkered pattern that usually appears in black and white, you have definitely seen it before you probably just were not familiar with the name. Embossing refers to the process of creating three dimensional images or designs in textiles by using a giant mold to empress a pattern into the jersey, essentially stamping the design into the product using heat. This squeezes the fibers together forcing them to raise up, we have to use soft fabrics in this process.

A: We have been in the market of performance products for a long time. When they first came out the market consisted of bright colors that were indicative of active wear and golf got on board with these colors. Golf apparel emulated running and tennis gear with the bright, bold colors and that is fine for running and tennis but that was what was accepted for all performance clothing. Golf is a bit different. We have now taken it to the next level with what we like to call contemporary performance apparel. Meaning fine details in the fabrication, striping patters, and colors. We have a very sophisicated color pallet this season and have seen a very strong positive reaction to these colors.

Q:I love the names in the new line: chic, luxe, elegance, demure, majestic, precise, parallel, proper, prim, retro, flourish. Where does the inspiration for these names come from?

A: We call them color stories. We have many great designers who design specific product lines. These color stories are inspired by a great deal of things. We pay close attention what the market looks like, market forecasts, we travel all over the world to see what is popular in other countries, and then we form our own interpretation. We create a unique, sophisticated, performance line with colors that are unlike others out there. All our colors are created specifically by our vendors for Antigua, usually a blend of a few different shades.

A; We have found the best fabric for performance are microfibers, usually a blend of polyesters. Out pique which is the typical polo shirt material, performs better due to the way it is stitched, flat and interlocking. We do not have a typical cotton polo shirt as they absorb too much moisture. Our merchandising group chooses the best vendors and strategically chooses the yarn, whether matte or shiny, and we have a research team which decides what fibers are more absorbant or have better wicking qualities. We always try to obtain the highest qualities in all of our materials.

A: It blended very well with polyester for performance friendliness. It is a natural fiber as opposed to synethic which most of our apparel is made out of. One is not necessarily better than the other in comfortability, however natural fibers eco-friendly so it helps the environment in the long term. Bamboo is very comfortable as well.

A: We created a Green Team in house that meets on a regular basis and discusses what actions we can take to improve as a company. For example, the price to make organic cotton is extensive so they analyze whether that is better or whether buying eco-friendly products that we can recycle would make more of an impact. Many companies are just smoke in mirrors when they refer to their green programs which is sometimes referred to as green washing. We don't do that. We don't promote ourselves as being an organic company, we believe everyone has a responsibility and any effort we can contribute to the cause is important.

Q: Antigua also sets high standards for quality with the enforcement of fair labor practices and a supplier code of conduct, what benefit does that have for the company?

A: We have always required that ever since Antigua was started 30 years ago. We did not have a second thought about our Global Sourcing Standards, we feel it is very important to be socially compliant.

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