New approach to club attire
Jennifer Glaspie founded Aphira, based in Chicago. She created apparel to appeal to the social golfer who isn’t able to fit in the club.
by Carolyn Schwaar
Jennifer Glaspie, a novice golfer, was kicked off the fairway at a Florida club because she wore a collarless, sleeveless sweater. She didn’t realize then that golf for women would be her passion.
From the runway to fairway
In 2000, Glaspie, a successful corporate business consultant at the prestigious Chicago-based firm of Baine & Co, started learning golf at the request of her boyfriend (now husband). This petite, style-savvy urbanite discovered that her clothes options did not change as she improved her golf game.
“Golf apparel is so far behind the curve fashion-wise and the options for the fashion-conscious golfer are limited,”She says. However, it was a cold October morning and a teetime was looming. “nothing to wear”That finally forced Glaspie into action.
Glaspie was convinced that a fashionable, comfortable, yet stylish line of ladies’ golf clothing was a great opportunity. She put aside her career and used her Kellogg MBA in order to create a business plan for launching a trendy line.
“I’ve always had a love of fashion, but I thought entering the competitive apparel industry would be just crazy,”The 32-year old Michigan native recalls. But research revealed that the apparel industry can be competitive. However, niches with high end products, such as resortware and sports apparel, tend to have a more affordable and smaller market. “I found some fashion-forward lines that were doing well, but the market certainly wasn’t saturated, so everything pointed to ‘go,’ “Sie says.
Glaspie, Cassy Carl, her rebellious designer, wanted to make golf clothing that was fashionable, fun, and very sexy. They hoped against all odds that it would be a success. It worked.
Aphira was introduced at the 2005 PGA Merchandise Florida show. “There we were walking practically three miles back to our little booth past these huge corporate booths,”Glaspie is remembered. “We felt totally overwhelmed, but from the beginning, people started saying great things. One women said ‘I love this line, this is my favorite line here out of 1,000 exhibitors. It felt promising. We felt really, really good.”
They placed dozens of orders for their first line at the event. After their first customers got their order and were delighted with it, the duo began to wonder if they could have something. “One client said people where buying it right out of the box before she could get it on the rack,”Glaspie.
Aphira, now in its third year of operation, is present in almost 150 golf shops throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. There have been some mistakes along the way, however.
“I thought we had to be really different when we first launched,”Glaspie. It was all about edginess and close fitting tops, as well as tennis-length skorts. “But we’ve toned that down a bit as we’ve gone on.”This shift is a result of the company’s extensive research on who buys their fashionable line. In many cases, it’s retired people in their 50s and 60s.
“Nike and Addidas design sportswear for the athletic golfer,”Glaspie. “Our customer is more socialite than athlete. She doesn’t play four-times a week, she plays with her girlfriends on the weekends, and she’s someone who’s always put together.”
Glaspie, like many entrepreneurs, is an owner, marketer and sales representative. “One time at a meeting with the proshop owner at the Ravinia Green Country Club I ran and put on a pair of shorts to show the client how they fit,”Glaspie says. Each piece is custom-made in Glaspie’s size to allow for product testing. “I need to try it all on. I swing a club and I walk around it in. I’m a golfer and I know the functionality that the garment needs to have.”
Aphira fabric is 100% American made. Fabric is customized dyed before being shipped to Chicago’s northside factory for assembly.
Aphira clothing is currently only sold in golf shops. “We need to stay focused on the golf market. We know every dollar invested will be a few dollars return in the golf market but it would take too much capitol to break into the larger apparel retail market.”
Aphira won’t be found in department shops, but you will see it on The Big Break Ladies Only. Aphira attire on Valeria Ochoa. The new Hollywood movie “Who’s Your Caddy?,”A billboard stating that “an urban take on the comedy golf movie”Aphira is a hot character in the film.
Glaspie says that the chancy jump from leading strategic growth for Fortune-500 firms to becoming a golfer’s skort maker has paid off. “It has just been a whirlwind but I’m definitely having fun. In consulting I had peeks and valley and good weeks and bad weeks, but when it’s your own company your highs are really high and lows are really low. Everything takes on so much more importance when it’s your own.”
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Boxed or callout:
Aphira is a fear-ah. Jennifer Glaspie, a golfwear entrepreneur invented the word Aphira. It is derived from the Latin word ephiro which means to exult.
Sidebar
Fashion can attract women to the game of golf more than fashion?
While it might sound shallow to claim that women will be more likely to enjoy golf if they have more fashionable apparel, Jennifer Glaspie from Aphira in Chicago says the opposite. “I have a friend who I asked to take some golf lessons with me but she said ‘I play tennis because the cloths are cuter.’ Having more fashion in this sport does change its image.”
Look at the international television broadcasts of women’s tournaments, like the Lexus Cup. Grace Park and Annika Sörenstam wore trendy designer golfwear instead of a masculine polo to portray a fashionable and fun image for women’s tennis.
Michelle Wie is a tank-top sportswoman who brings her youthful attitude and free spirit to the green.
“There’s a lot more younger people playing the sport,”Glaspie agrees. She says that youth brings new ideas and a fresh style.