I had the great pleasure of chatting with Pamela Miller of The Antigua Group at the PGA Merchandise Show. Pam showed me some of Antigua’s beautiful shirts and outerwear for the upcoming golf season. I also saw some of the dynamite duds Antigua is making for this year’s Solheim Cup. Pam and I were — to use team golf parlance — “ham ‘n egging it,” having some boffo banter that saw an inadvertent double entendre or two. Don’t blame Pam! I was a bad influence on her! NOTE: THE FOLLOWING CONVERSATION MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR JUNIOR GOLFERS. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Pamela Miller
Golf Conversations: How did you come up with the name “Antigua”? Obviously, there’s the island in the Caribbean. Did the founder of the company get stranded there with a tailor?
Pamela Miller: No, he loved it when he went there to visit. The company was started by a man named Tom Dooley.
GC: Wasn’t there a song with that name?
PM: There was: “Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley.”
(laughter)
GC: That’s right! Not the same guy?
(laughter)
PM: Not the same guy. He started the company about 32 years ago.
GC: 32 years ago? That’s a long time in this business.
PM: He loved the island and decided that’s what he was naming this company.
GC: It’s a good thing he didn’t vacation in the Virgin Islands! Not a good name for a shirt company.
(laughter)
PM: I would agree with you. His first employee was a gentleman by the name of Ron McPherson – who you just met – who is our President and CEO.
GC: What did Ron do back then? Don’t tell me he was splitting coconuts in Antigua.
(laughter)
PM: They were actually embroidering logos on shirts out of Tom’s garage. It started with that first embroidering machine; Tom sold the business a while back to a Canadian company who sold it to a company called SDI – Sports Direct International. That’s the company that owns us now. They’re a British company.
GC: Where was Tom’s garage?
PM: In the Phoenix area. That’s where the business was started. Ron was his first sales representative. But Ron can also thread a needle and run an embroidery machine if he needs to.
GC: No kidding!
PM: The old machines; he probably wouldn’t run them now but he did back then.
GC: That’s a great story. When I took up golf in 1993, I remember Antigua was one of the hot-stuff brands. Still is.
PM: Absolutely. We had Payne Stewart.
GC: You had a lot of pros who wore your stuff. Hey, even I wear it!
PM: Excellent!
GC: You guys sent me two shirts. I don’t know if you know that.
PM: No.
GC: Thank you for those; that was kind of you.
PM: You’re very welcome.
GC: I’m not looking to be a paid endorser unless, of course, you’re willing to pay.
(laughter)
PM: You know, we’re happy to give you a couple of shirts to wear!
GC: Why pay professional golfers to wear your shirts when you can…
PM: Are you on national TV?
GC: Ok, forget it.
(laughter)
Never mind. You’re right. I see where you’re going with this and I stand corrected!
(laughter)
Ok, let’s see what you’ve got to show me.
PM: Sure. Why don’t we take a walk?
[Pam proceeds to show me around Antigua’s display booth]
Some of the things that we’re doing with the styling of our garments … we’re really going for the contemporary performance appearance of our garments as well as with the fabrication.
We’re upgrading. We want to stay on the cutting edge of the marketplace. We want to make sure that we’re appealing to our golfers but also to the lifestyle market.
You’ll see when we look at some of the outerwear pieces … we’re actually creating wind-proof garments. When you’re out there, you know how brutal it can be.
GC: I know how brutal it is in here!
(laughter)
PM: Yes. When you’re out on the golf course.
GC: I know. Out in Scotland when the wind is blowing off the Firth of Forth.
PM: Take this Noble jacket…
GC: What does Noble mean?
PM: It means it’s a wonderfully constructed garment. It’s a name that we’ve given to the jacket. You can see the nice features that we put into it … movability for the golf market.
GC: It’s for windy conditions. Not necessarily for protection from rain.
PM: Correct. Not waterproof but it would have resistance to water. Look around the collar and the around the zipper. Notice the slight amount of fleece. That’s for protection against the wind. So when you’re zipped up, you’re able to block that wind a little more.
Toggles around the neck to pull it tighter to keep the wind out when you’re not in the midst of swinging … when you’re riding in that golf cart and the wind is blowing.
GC: Cool.
PM: You can see that the zipper pockets are coming more in toward the side as opposed to being along the seam. Which is where your hands are placed. Kind of a unique feature, huh?
GC: Nice. I like it!
(laughter)
PM: Look at the design on this particular jacket. This one is called The Viper. It has a great fit … a great lay when the garment is on…
GC: EXCUSE ME???
PM: Oooh. Yikes!
(laughter)
It has a wonderful drape…
(laughter)
GC: Whoa-whoa-whoa. Wait a minute!
(laughter)
PM: I’m sorry.
GC: No, actually, I think my readers would be interested in a great lay.
(laughter)
PM: Luckily, they can’t see my red face at this moment.
(laughter)
GC: “A great lay” is a garment term, right? So everybody: just relax! Now, back to business. I thought, erroneously, that Antigua was just shirts. But looking around the display here, obviously, it’s outerwear, too.
PM: Absolutely. We’ve got a waterproof rain suit here.
GC: Let’s see that. And keep it clean, Pam!
(laughter)
PM: Obviously, waterproof means the seams are sealed. Take a look at this: I want you to run your hand on this. You can see what we’ve done here with the rubberized trim. This runs along the shoulder and down the sides of the arms. That’s where the rain hits. It’s another added feature to the garment.
GC: The seams are sealed inside?
PM: The seams are totally sealed.
GC: And you’ve got this rubber for added protection. Oops, now I said a bad thing!
(laughter)
What the hell is going on here?
(laughter)
I’m trying to do a bona fide interview and this is lapsing into I don’t-know-what!
(laughter)
But I’ve got to tell you: this is my kind of interview! I’m having a good time!
(laughter)
But that’s an interesting feature … to have that, uh, bouncy material there to provide extra insurance against encroaching precipitation.
(laughter)
PM: And look at this. Hooked inside the pocket, we have this cloth that you can clean/dry the ball with.
GC: That’s a neat idea.
PM: Pretty cool, isn’t it? We also have in this particular jacket, toggles at the bottom to pull the garment tighter. And you can access them through the pocket.
GC: Good idea. But let me make a little design suggestion. You don’t have to listen to it.
PM: I’d be happy to.
GC: You showed me the little cloth in the pocket to clean or dry the golf ball.
PM: Yes.
GC: What if you’re a lefty? You need to have a version where the cloth is in the left pocket.
PM: Ok.
GC: And you charge $10 extra for lefties. And that goes right to the bottom line.
PM: Ok. I’ll pass that on.
GC: This is why I’m not in your business.
(laughter)
PM: That’s ok. I’ll pass that on.
GC: It’s an interesting idea, right?
PM: It is.
GC: Ok, I can see you’re just humoring me. That’s alright, I’m used to it.
(laughter)
PM: Here’s our Revolution jacket. It’s a fleece piece; it’s got the half-zip up front, mock collar. It’s fleece inside, yet the outside you don’t see the fleece.
GC: Yes.
PM: It’s got a pouch pocket in front that has the fleece inside. Again, when you’re out there and it’s chilly, you’ve got your hands in the warm pouch pocket.
GC: This makes sense because there’s fleece inside a kangaroo pouch.
(laughter)
PM: I didn’t want to call it a kangaroo pocket.
GC: This is where you keep your joey.
PM: That’s right.
Pamela Miller & Robert Blumenthal
GC: I have also heard this referred to as a “quarter zipper.”
PM: And it would be.
GC: Alright. Just trying to show off a little.
PM: That’s excellent that you would say that!
GC: Keep going, Pam! Take me around!
PM: Here is Desert Dry, Xtra-Lite. This is something that Antigua has formulated. It’s also called D2XL. The property that it has … it wicks the moisture away from the body. It’s also an extra-light fabric. It gives it a wonderful drape … easy to launder … a great garment when you’re traveling. Hang it in the shower if you need to get some of the travel wrinkles out. It wears beautifully and looks very rich and elegant.
GC: And you’d want to wear something like this in Phoenix in June.
PM: I’m wearing the long-sleeve ladies style right now. And I like this garment a lot. And I mean that. I wear Antigua product a lot. We test it ourselves and we know the things that work.
GC: Ok, let me ask you a slightly personal question because you just told me you’re wearing an Antigua product.
PM: Ok.
GC: Over the last 15 minutes that we’ve been talking … have you been wicking?
PM: No. My face has been turning red but I’m not perspiring.
(laughter)
So I’m not wicking.
(laughter)
GC: If they turned off the air conditioning?
PM: Ohhh, then I’d be wicking. You bet!
(laughter)
GC: So this is a polyester product?
PM: Yes. This is a Whisper Xtra-Lite. You can see the waffle weave on this. And the styling with the raglan sleeves.
GC: I like raglan sleeves.
PM: The really great thing about this … feel the inside of the fabric. It’s extremely soft. If you look at the waffle weave on the outside, you’re gonna think it’s gonna be a rough waffle pattern on the inside. It’s not.
Another cool thing about Antigua is being able to put together matchable garments where men and ladies can have the same product, yet on the womens’ garments, we feminize them.
GC: Let’s go look at some ladies’ stuff!
PM: Here’s a five-button placket … making it a little bit more of a feminine look.
GC: You’ve got shirts, you’ve got outerwear.
PM: We’ve got short sleeve, long sleeve, some things that are just for women…
GC: Whoa! What are these? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…
PM: 6-button placket.
GC: Very pretty.
PM: We’re showcasing the jewel tones this season.
GC: Why are they called jewel tones?
PM: Because they look like jewels. They’re the bright colors…
GC: Sapphires, rubies.
PM: Absolutely, just like in your jewels.
GC: How many different color patterns do you have in, say, men’s shirts?
PM: It depends on each individual style. Every style does not come in every color. So, generally speaking, we run 4-6 garments per style. So that would be 4-6 colors but they’re not all going to be the same. You want to be able to mix and match; we want people to be able to put together collections and to have other items to accent the collections.
GC: What’s this Slazenger stuff over here?
PM: Slazenger is another fine line that we produce…
GC: I didn’t know that.
PM: … we have a license to produce Slazenger product.
GC: I didn’t know that. Nobody tells me these things! I’m always on the outside looking in!
(laughter)
PM: Isn’t that a sad place to be?
(laughter)
GC: But it’s just Slazenger clothing. Not the golf balls?
PM: We don’t do any of the equipment. We sell Slazenger in the green-grass market as well as in the corporate market.
GC: And this feels more like cotton. Is everything Antigua produces more of the performance product?
PM: Not necessarily everything. Most everything.
GC: Where are your shirts manufactured?
PM: Mostly in the Far East and Guatemala. Everything is manufactured for us; we spec everything. We do all the cut, make, and trim. We spec all the threads, the buttons, everything within the design; it’s all done to spec.
One of the other things, too, just so you know … we decorate our garments with embroidery.
GC: With embroidery?
PM: With embroidered logos. We are manufacturing all the garments for the Solheim Cup. Our designer has designed them all and we are manufacturing those. We do club logos, we do corporate logos. We also have another division of our company that does license logos with Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL, colleges.
GC: That’s huge.
PM: We just got the NFL license.
GC: Ok, here’s my final question. The one I told you about earlier…
PM: The one you said I would not be able to answer.
GC: Yes. Why is it that logos are always placed on the left side of the golf shirt? [Pam glances over at another Antigua executive] Don’t look at him!!!
(laughter)
PM: I don’t know but I’ll take a guess: You have a tendency when you shake hands with someone – if you’re shaking hands right-handed – you generally look to the opposite way. I don’t know if that’s the reason but that’s my guess.
GC: Not a bad guess, Pam. It makes sense. But once again, you’re discriminating against lefties. Thank you for being such a good sport. This was fun.
PM: You’re welcome.
GC: And keep those shirts coming! And no irregulars, either!
(laughter)
