By Jeffrey A. Rendall, Images courtesy of Antigua Golf

PEORIA, AZ – “Why should I buy your product?”

It’s a question I always present to golf manufacturers. First, I’m looking for brand differentiation, and second, I’m trying to determine if they believe their own marketing material.

When it comes to golf apparel maker Antigua, the answer to the second part of the question is an unqualified “yes” -- and the answer to the first part isn’t hard to decipher either.

We’ve been wearing Antigua apparel for several seasons now, and can say without hesitation that it “performs” well – and lasts, too. Golfers always demand the highest performance from their equipment, and the shirt they wear should be no different.

But how does a golf shirt really “perform?”

Ron McPherson, Antigua’s president and CEO, supplies the answer. “Performance should be measured on and off the course. On the course ‘performance’ should include moisture management (wicking of perspiration), comfort of lightweight fabrics, and consistent fit from style to style (and silhouette to silhouette).”

He continues, “It should also be fashion forward, always on trend, on and off the course. It should be easy to maintain in terms of wash and wear – no ironing needed. It should have dye fastness with little or no shrinkage. And finally, the ultimate performance is when it becomes your favorite garment – the one you’ll always choose first.”

It’s true, we all tend to have our favorites. Maybe it’s because of the comfort or looks – or “performance” – but there are times when you just want that one shirt. And you’re willing to search for it in the closet.

Thankfully, Antigua is there to provide it. The company was founded in 1979 as a provider of logoed merchandise to Arizona golf facilities.

In the last 34 years, Antigua has grown substantially and now serves the golf industry, the sports licensing industry (NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, Colleges), the corporate identity business and recently the tennis market as a wholesale supplier.

The original motivation for starting the company was to create a golf business leveraging the ability to provide embroidered logos on apparel and accessories.

Over the years, Antigua has become known for its diversity of distribution channels, in-stock inventory/in house decoration capacity, and its customer service as well as fabric technology, longevity and reliability – and because it’s been in business so long.

The Antigua Tour staff helps out, too. “Our tour players confirm or deny the work of our product development team. In most cases confirm, of course, but several times over the years feedback from tour players have improved the look, fit and feel of a product,” McPherson added.

For our part, Antigua works for us. The products have maintained the look and fit over the course of several seasons – and true to McPherson’s words, Antigua apparel is definitely something we turn to when we’re looking for “performance.”

“Antigua should be known for its quality, technology innovation and authentic golf heritage,” McPherson concluded.

Overall, a job well done.

Here’s what to look for from Antigua in 2013:

Antigua - 2013 Men's Performance Golf Apparel

The Antigua Spring Men’s Performance Golf Collections introduced a new color palette of bright accent colors for its Spring ’12 Golf Wear Collections, and have since brightened the color value for its Spring 2013 offering. These trending pop colors are used as subtle details, created to appeal to a wide age demographic of both male and female golfers in both of this seasons Men’s and Women’s Golf Wear Collections.

“For Spring 2013, the focus of pop accent colors on less conspicuous fabrications throughout the collections shows off the styling and design features of the individuals garments,” said Sean Gregg, Director of Product Development for Antigua.

“The collections are current in both color and design trend, and are additionally embellished with performance enhancing features by incorporating Antigua’s proprietary Desert Dry and Desert Dry Xtra-Lite moisture management technology to produce collections that are both merchandized appropriately for the season while offering performance functionality” Sean added.

PERFORMANCE-72 (PRF-72)

For Spring 2013, Antigua introduces PERFORMANCE-72 into its golf fashion collections.   The launch of this trademarked Performance-72 branding represents the benchmark for quality, fit, style and performance functionality on all of its fashion golf wear collections.

Each color story is designed to be merchandised together and to be presented on the retail floor as a collection and the Performance-72 branding trim is color coordinated to match each color story, representing both the brand as well as allowing the consumer to pair up merchandise readily for coordinating confidently on and off the course.

Performance-72 (PRF-72) epitomizes the standard that golf fashion should achieve. It is performance fashion golf apparel at its best.

Hats - The Antigua Group, Inc. – one of the nation’s leading designers and marketers of genuine sports apparel under its Antigua brand – has expanded their golf performance line for 2013 to include a new collection of performance hats and a variety of executive quality and sport inspired luggage styles.

Four new hat styles are being introduced this season, and each style is embellished with the Antigua branding. The 2013 hat collection offers a variety of styling details that compliment this season’s performance golf fashion collection featuring pop bright accents on performance fabrics designed for comfort and fit. All hats are also made available to customize with an embroidered logo of the resort, course or company desired.

Antigua has also expanded their accessories line to include an Executive collection of luggage made of 100% nylon dobby, and offered in sleek black with grey contrast piping. The new Exec Rolling Duffle is perfect for the traveling golfer and is durable and water resistant. The new Exec Tablet Portfolio is a secure way to transport any tablet and is designed to be embellished with a company or course logo of choice.

Also offered this season is a collection of Action sport inspired luggage, essential for the golfer’s everyday golfing and traveling needs. The Action Back Pack and the Action Duffel are quality bags that are great for any team to easily add a customized logo to.

The Antigua 2013 accessories line parallels the quality, style, and value the company is known for in its apparel. Accessories can be purchased in some of the finest pro shops and golf retailers, exemplifying Antigua as one of the nation’s leading designers and marketers of genuine golf and sports apparel and accessories.