If you're a golf fashion connoisseur, and I asked you to name for me two completely different brands in the space, there's a decent chance you could come up with Peter Millar on one end and G/Fore on the other.
Millar was born in Raleigh and relies on tech-forward apparel with classic tones. They're not afraid to dabble in all kinds of colors and patterns and materials, but it's safe to say Millar is perceived as, well safe. You could wear their stuff most anywhere and not draw a weird look.
G/Fore is a west coast brand, born from the mind of Mossimo Giannulli, the founder of the Mossimo surf-and-streetwear brand which hit its peak in the 1990s. Ever a golf fan, Giannulli chose to bring bold, unapologetic, sometimes brash design notes to the game with the G/Fore brand in 2011. It started with colorful gloves and grew into sassy hats, new-age patterns (for golf) and eye-catching shoes.
So, it was somewhat confusing when Millar and G/Fore got together on a shoe collaboration in 2017. How could two diametrically opposed brands, at least in terms of their look profile, come together on footwear? Well, they did. And it went well. And it spurred a conversation about Millar buying G/Fore.
Peter Millar announced Jan. 17 it has done just that, purchasing the G/Fore brand for an undisclosed sum.
“Our intent is to let Moss express his creative genius for design, branding and marketing while we build a solid foundation for the business with our back-end expertise,” said Peter Millar CEO Scott Mahoney. “Moss has the rare combination of experience, design vision and name recognition that will enable us to take this brand worldwide.”
The benefits for G/Fore are pretty clear. The company can gain access to the kind of material sourcing, inventory maintenance, financing, forecasting and e-commerce functions Peter Millar and its parent Richemont have in place.
For Millar, the benefit is the company has a complementary brand to collaborate with on future projects. They can also lean on the G/Fore brand to round out its offerings in a broader way, sending the more avant garde golfer to them for high-end performance golf fashion.
The transition has begun already and will complete in the 2018 year.
