Levelwear may not have the name recognition among the general golfing public that the huge brands garner, but they probably should, and they probably soon will.
“I would say everyone in the industry has known who we are for quite some time,” says Levelwear Brand Manager Brett Saunders.
“Often times, however, many members at clubs likely owned several items from Levelwear, but thought of them more as shirts from their home club rather than identifying them as Levelwear garments.”
That’s because if your golf club’s logo is on your shirt, no matter how it’s done, the odds are very good that Levelwear put it there.
“I think it’s fair to say that we are one of North America’s top three facilities with the number of unique treatments that we offer under one roof,” says Saunders.
The Richmond Hill, Ontario based company was founded in 1996. It’s still family owned and employs 175 people, producing logoed clothing and hats for the NHL, NBA, CFL and about 150 US colleges under its licensing sports umbrella.
“Golf still represents about 55-60 per cent of our business,” says Saunders, who notes they are currently in 91 of the top 100 ranked golf courses in Canada.
“We have always been more of a partner brand, meaning we have always focused on club-logoed product, but as our products and placement have kept getting better we have decided to showcase Levelwear more prominently to the golfing consumer.
“This has been through things like athletic endorsements where they are wearing our logo on Tour, some external branding that wasn’t always prominent before, and just generally telling more of a brand and product story.”
Levelwear hit a home run when they signed Adam Hadwin, and the first day he wore their clothing in a PGA Tour event was the day he shot 59 at the CareerBuilder Challenge.
Of course, he also was wearing Levelwear when he picked up his first PGA Tour win at the Valspar.
“It was very fortuitous timing for sure,” said Saunders. “It couldn’t have been better.”
Levelwear also has Canadian Brad Fritsch under contract as well as LPGA Tour player Sandra Gaul.
They have also signed an agreement recently with Golf Canada to become the official apparel provider to both the RBC Canadian Open and the CP Women’s Open, including in the merchandise tents.
“That’s a pretty big brand statement for us,” says Saunders. “All of the volunteers and staff will be wearing our product.”
WHAT’S NEW
Levelwear has introduced a new women’s line named Verve and it’s based around Gaul.
“It shows what Sandra can do throughout the day: working out in the morning, going to a photoshoot in the afternoon, lunch with the girls, and hitting the golf course later in the day. And this Levelwear Verve collection can be with you every step of the way,” says Saunders.
The collection was rolled out at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in January and will be in pro shops this fall.
Saunders says they are making small changes to their men’s clothing.
“We’ve trimmed up the fit to our items to what we’re calling a ‘modern’ fit,” he explains.
“It’s not drastic, just an inch off the sleeve, an inch off the shoulder, an inch off the body. It’s not a Euro look, just a slight cleaning up of the fit on select men’s pieces. It’s still a golf-centric look. It’s just not as preppy as maybe we used to be.”
