Welcome to the fold, Valerie, of Kaysville, Utah! Your O Magazine discount is on its way to you and our goal of shipping all fifty states is in sight (be still my beating heart). Just three left.

The offer still stands: The first person from each of the remaining three states who steps up and purchases will get the ‘O’ discount of 20%. Call me to claim it. I am sitting here waiting for you. Tick. Tock.

Or, tell me on Twitter or Facebook.

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Our sincere thanks to Pam, of Fargo, North Dakota, for being the first golfer in her state to try Equipt products and let us put another notch in our belts. We made good on our promise and gave her the O Magazine discount for allowing us to take ND off our target list. Four to go (you can see who you are).

The offer still stands: The first person from each of the remaining four states who steps up and purchases will get the ‘O’ discount of 20%. Call me to claim it. This is a one-shot deal, ladies. Come and get it.

Or, tell me on Twitter or Facebook.

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We broke a lot of finger nails and missed a few cocktail hours over here, but it was all worth it. We shipped our shoes and gloves to 45/50 states and all over Canada – and more than doubled our sales from all of last year in three and a half short, but intense weeks. Our mission to blanket the earth with great golf gear for women is underway.

It was a pleasure meeting so many of you by phone and getting your comments by email. (Some of you should quit your day jobs and do stand-up.) Thank you! You’re the reason we’re doing this.

If we were out of your size, we apologize. The response was huge (as in, scary) and we did our best to keep up. Please send us an email and let us know what style and size you’re interested in. We’ll keep track of your request and let you know when we’re back in stock. You’ll get first shot.

Meanwhile, we’ve been busy designing new shoes, gloves and totes (yes, totes!) over the past few months and look forward to introducing them to you this summer. We think you’re going to like what’s coming up. If you didn’t do it already, sign up for our newsletter on the sidebar or friend us on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll let you know what’s up and when.

OK. Time for a manicure. I look like I’ve been hoeing potatoes in the rear forty. Barehanded.

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We have shipped our golf shoes and gloves to every state in the union EXCEPT Arkansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. That makes just five states out of fifty that didn’t give themselves the gift of golf. What’s UP with that Arkansas? And, you Wyoming? Are you too busy rustling cattle to squeeze in a round?

I make a habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes my way and believe me, O Magazine was a big, fat gift. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. HOWEVER, being the a-retentive person that I am, the perfectionist, the striver extraordinaire, I will not rest till I have all fifty states under my belt, wearing Equipt golf gear. So chop chop, you five.

Here’s what I’m willing to do to tick you off my list and, OK, be able to color the state in with Equipt green (loved kindergarten): The first person from each of the remaining five states who steps up and purchases will get the ‘O’ discount of 20%. Call me to claim it. This is a one-shot deal, ladies. Come and get it.

Or, tell me on Twitter or Facebook. 

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Holy smoke. Everything you’ve ever heard about being given the nod by Oprah is true. Her magic wand is magic – on a grand scale. Our little company has been awash in orders since the May issue of O Magazine hit the stands and we are exhausted, but hugely grateful, for the exposure and indescribably vast reach that O has afforded us.

I started this business in 2008 to answer a personal need for comfort and style on the golf course. It wasn’t at all clear at the outset that I would find a following, but I pressed on in the belief that there were other women out there like myself who were dying for playful, comfortable golf gear. It turns out I was right! We are a large and growing sorority, ladies. I am also happy to say that most of you have understood my idea of offering a coordinating glove for every one of our shoes because we all know that accessories rule. CONGRATULATIONS!

I am very excited about the new products we have on the drawing boards. There will be more course-to-street shoes: slip-ons, lace-ups, zip-ups. You name it. And, of course, (some say at last!) new colors in our classic cleated golf shoes. There will be new coordinating gloves for everything and a simply irresistible waterproof tote that looks like a million. You won’t know it’s waterproof just by looking at it – but you can throw it in your swimming pool if it get dirty. My idea of the perfect carry-all (a-c-c-e-s-s-o-r-y).

Stay tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuned.

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One of the things that delighted me at the recent PGA Show in Orlando was meeting young golfer, Samantha Marks, who is on her way to UNC on a golf scholarship this fall. Samantha, 18, fell in love with our  Spectator/summer sunrise shoes and I decided to give her a little gift to take away to school. (A matching glove seemed in order, too.) Our shoes and gloves have often been referred to as playful – they are – and were designed to appeal to golfers of all ages. Voilà. Proof’s in the pudding.

There’s nothing I love more than seeing young, athletic women pursuing the sports of their dreams. (Heaven knows I wish I’d taken up golf at her age…then maybe my handicap would have something more than a prayer of a snowball in hell… Never mind. My currency rises whenever there’s a tournament.)

Samantha just sent me a few snaps of herself out practicing in our shoes and matching glove (while I’m at my desk) and I thought you might like to see how terrific she looks. We’re going to be keeping an eye on her progress and will keep you posted along the way. Go Samantha!

Now. In case there’s anyone left on earth who hasn’t heard our news yet, these shoes, the ones you see here on young Samantha, are in O Magazine this month (page 85). We made the ‘O’List, holy cow, and to celebrate our good fortune are offering everyone a 20% discount on everything on our site through April 30. Buy them while you still can! No joke.

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It is a thing of wonder and delight that two of our golf shoes are being featured in O Magazine this month. I am particularly happy with the shoes the editor chose to feature, because the timing is perfect for the coming spring/summer season.

LOOKING TO NATURE

You may have noticed that EQUIPT has scant ( as in, no) offerings in the range of colors typically known as ‘neutrals’. It’s strictly a function of personal preference, but saturated colors make my heart go thump. Just look at these Gerbera Daisies! They’re nothing short of hypnotic.

Maybe it’s because I am a spring baby (April born) that I love anything that hints of vibrant, new life – fresh grass, luminous forsythia, moody, fragrant hyacinths. Whatever the origin, my love affair with color has a long history and shows no signs of abating.

ECHOES OF THE PAST

In a past lifetime, long before the advent of this golf-shoe folly called EQUIPT, I designed home furnishings under my own label, annie j. You may have seen my glasses, dishes, table linens, rugs, mugs, pillows, totes and throws, like those pictured here, at the likes of Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn or Bed Bath & Beyond. The fact is that I’ve departed very little from my housewares origins when it comes to color and unquestionably see echoes of old sensibilities informing the design of the golf shoes and golf gloves we offer on this site.

 IT’S ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS

Like everything worthwhile in life, color is all about relationships. You can make a color sing by pairing it with its complement  or create interesting visual tension by juxtaposing a cool and warm version of the same hue. How about those vibrant pink daisies poking their cheerful mugs out of a one of my old blue and green beach totes? (A very popular item at annie j.) Looks like a party to me!

COLOR SAYS IT ALL

In the case of our Spectator golf shoe in summer sunrise colors, the challenge was to load it with all the colors you might find in a summer wardrobe, without risking its visual balance and allowing any one color to dominate the mix. I chose a warm, buttery yellow – not an acidic forsythia yellow – to balance the cool blue and warm green of this shoe. The piquant inset of rosie-pink piping is there for a touch of contrast – just enough to make you appreciate (and read) the blues, greens and yellows clearly. Believe me when I tell you that this shoe just isn’t the same without that little injection of rose.

As for our Wing Tip in summer bright colors, I wasn’t after any loftier goal than pleasing myself! I love just about any color combined with black and white and see it as one of those no-fail tricks in the realm of color management that urges the eye to read colors distinctly. In this shoe, every color (four in all) reads better, warmer and richer sitting side-by-side with this black and white check – and stands its own ground without overwhelming the others. (Sassy. Maybe that’s what I was after.)

JUST OUR WAY OF SAYING THANKS

We want to thank the editors at O Magazine for responding so enthusiastically to our product line and giving us such an amazing, incomparable platform to introduce ourselves to a broader audience. We’re saying thanks by offering a 20% discount on all our shoes and gloves until April 30th. Just type in code OPRAH when you check out and then get outside and play!

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Women are from Venus; men are from Mars. We get it. My latest post touched on the disconnect between what women really want and what’s being served up in golf pro shops, still predominantly male preserves, and it got me thinking about sex and food. I’ll stick with food.

A friend and I were talking the other day about this Mars/Venus thing and how it’s reflected in the way we do just about everything, not just communicate. Like the difference between how women and men shop and how it’s akin to the way we eat: women forage and graze; men (most) bolt. Women might elect to eat dessert first, (I’m an outside-the-box kinda gal, so whatever rings your chimes, I say), and men go all algorithmic, starting with the meat and potatoes, then segueing to the apple pie, because a meal is a function that demands ritual observation and logical execution.

TRIPLE BYPASS, PLEASE

But what do Venus and Mars have to do with golf pro shops and shopping you ask? Here’s what: man’s polo shirt has holes; man goes to pro shop; man buys (what the heck) two. That kind of thing. Orderly and purposeful, all spontaneity eschewed and a breeze for any pro shop manager to buy and plan for. This customer won’t be inclined to search out the newest colors or check out the finishing details or go all lightheaded over a bit of contrasting stitching. It’s just a blasted shirt. A man’s ‘need’ arises well before he sets foot in a store to solve the problem. For him, shopping is about as much fun as a triple bypass, so he wants to get in and get out fast. Answer the need. Move on. (If there’s another parallel here, it was not necessarily intentional.)

EEEEEEEEEK

For women, it’s just the opposite. The ‘need’ is aroused by the very act of shopping itself and is rarely satisfied by one great purchase. No. It must be contemplated, lingered over, every ounce of pleasure extracted – then – perhaps – repeated? (Where on earth is this heading?) This foraging drive, desire – OK, compulsion – is in our DNA and explains why so many pro shops are major snooze-zones for us. They are pitched to the bolters not the foragers. There’s no romance; nothing to savor; no cache of marvelous finds; no chance discovery of a must-have. In short, no EEeek factor.

NANCY HAS A NEW PAIR OF GOLF SHOES

I was having lunch with my good friend Nancy a few weeks back. We hadn’t seen each other in over ten years (she got married and moved out of the city while I continued my adventures in India) and we lost touch in one of those inexplicable ways that even we couldn’t figure out. We reconnected on Facebook and met up for a lengthy lunch and several glasses of wine (it being a celebration and all). I was delighted to find out that she’d taken up golf since I’d seen her last (we were old tennis buddies back when our knees didn’t crack) and she was delirious to learn that I was making golf shoes and gloves. Why? Because she couldn’t find anything she liked or that fit, mes amis.

GIVE US MORE (BLANK). PROBLEM SOLVED.

If this kind of exchange didn’t happen so often, I’d write this one off to her being an unappeasable picky-puss, but it does and she’s not. She actually said that she went to the pro shop owner at her club and asked why he wasn’t buying anything she actually wanted to spend her money on?! (Always loved that girl.) Alas, she got the stock answer: we just don’t sell enough BLANK (fill in) to make it worthwhile.

Well maybe if you had more BLANK, and better BLANK and didn’t shove all the BLANK in the rear (unlit) corner of your shop, you’d have more BLANKING sales. Because, here’s the thing: for us, shopping is sport. The thrill’s in the pursuit and acquisition (one way Mars and Venus align). Give us a reason to graze – often – and you’ll see the cash register light up. Problem solved.

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This post is dedicated to the intrepid women entrepreneurs in the golf industry who are trying, against tough odds, to bring beautiful products to market for women golfers. (Here’s to the sisterhood of golf entrepreneurs. You know who you are.)

Last year about this time, I returned from the PGA Show in Orlando, Florida, with lots to say about what I’d seen. This year, instead of being a surveyor, I was a purveyor – with a booth – and instead of looking at what was up, I had my ear to the ground to collect the scoop from the many pro shop owners and buyers who came by to meet us.

Oh, the stuff I heard. The antennae were pinging as I chatted and schmoozed with people from all over the world, finding out all sorts of stuff  - that I guess I knew – but finally had confirmed. Golfers are, by and large, a good lot; but there are still some folks out there (the US comes to mind) who don’t want to see the golf-boat rocked, especially by upstarts who don’t understand ‘how things work’.

THERE’S A DISCONNECT

There are golf industry people who tune in occasionally to read these posts and they might be surprised to know that despite the proliferation of ‘women’s golf product’ being presented by many of the major brands, women, in the trenches, either aren’t seeing much of it or liking much of it. There seems to be a big disconnect out there. I say this because I hear it all the time from women golfers – and because there are so many women starting businesses in the golf industry to make the stuff they want but can’t find.

THERE’S MONEY IN THEM THAR HILLS

If what I heard from a lot of pro shop buyers (still predominantly male) is any indication, I have my answer: they think that what’s been offered to women till now is good enough and they aren’t especially interested or motivated to change their ways. I mean why should they? If the major brands are willing to take back any golf shoes and accessories they don’t sell, it means the pro shop owner doesn’t have to put anything on the line and is more inclined to play it safe with what he already knows. In short, he’s less likely to hang his keester out there just for your shopping pleasure.

This poses a problem for the women golfers across the land who are hankering to see something new in their local shops: the buyer is not taking any chances on a new brand if that brand isn’t similarly willing to loan out its inventory. Under this shortsighted scenario, being adventuresome or creative isn’t in his tea leaves. What he doesn’t seem to understand, though, is that these women have credit cards, lots of them, and an appetite for shopping that can only be satisfied if their palates are being titillated. They’ll buy more and pay more for products that tickle their fancy – we’re living proof of that – than for undifferentiated, ubiquitous commodities like white + pink/beige/black (take your pick) golf shoes.

BREAK OUT YOUR CLIMBING GEAR, LADIES

The PGA Show produced a ubiquitous (and curious) stream of women club members sent on reconnaissance missions by their pro shop owners, who had neither the time, nor interest, nor attention span, to try to figure what their female players would want to buy, wear, use, etc. This army of volunteer foragers, deeply engaged in the mission and enthusiastic as all get out, were utterly impotent. (Forgive me.) They could look, covet, recommend – but they could not buy. No authority.

So, there you have it. This is why golf companies just like mine are sprouting like mushrooms in the south of France, eager to address your deepest desires when it comes to your golf attire – and why we still have some very steep mountains to climb. It explains why all of us have our own e-commerce sites and why you are increasingly shopping online or at special events for your golf needs and skipping the pro shops altogether. (Let’s not forget trunk shows. Where would we be without those?)

GOLIATH PAYS A CALL

I’m probably going to be in a lot of trouble after I post this, because I’m going to dare to share the upshot of my encounter with one of the industry’s Goliath’s (They-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named) and leave you to your own conclusions about which behemoth I’m referring to here. It says a lot about the industry and why the boat needs some serious rocking. (I’m talking shoes here, since that’s my biz, so you do the math.)

Goliath’s emmissary, a corporate fellow, tall, navy-jacketed, sporting a badge turned in on itself so that I couldn’t see where he hailed from, but with the telltale initials on the strap that gave him away, marched himself right into my booth (without being invited) to examine my product line. Up close. (By the way, if you never hear from me again, just assume that Goliath took out a contract on me.)

Now, for those of you who don’t do trade shows, I’m here to tell you that this is a cardinal no-no. You don’t walk into a competitor’s booth to examine their product line, particularly  if you’re big enough to squash them like a June Bug in July. It’s not cool. It’s not done. It’s, dare I say it, kind of flattering, though?

FORMULA vs VERVE

Reticence has never been my best event, so I walked up to this fella, introduced myself, and remarked that the telltale initials on the strap holding his ID badge told me he was a competitor and ought not to have come into my booth without being invited. I asked him to, please, step away from the shoes and step back into the aisle.

He dismissed my request with a barely concealed snort and continued to fondle, yes FONDLE, my shoes, turning them over in his hands like a fine bottle of wine. When I pointed out, a bit more insistently this time, that it was inappropriate for a competitor to enter a booth and scrutinize product so brazenly, he didn’t budge. He just said that I was welcome to come into his booth anytime and look at his – stuff. (Didn’t we do that in grade school? Anyway, why would I want to do that? His stuff is WHITE.)

SOMEBODY GRAB THE BUG SPRAY, PLEASE

Now for the punch line. This corporate guy, this head of operations (or something-or-other) actually looked me in the eye and said, with a dead straight face, that his company had ‘ALL KINDS of shoes just like mine in its back room’, but had decided not to market them, because – get this – women overwhelmingly preferred white shoes.  (Whew. That leaves room for the rest of us to delude ourselves, I said.) Anyway, as soon as I recovered from the cheek of his remark, I thought to myself: the only reason women seem – to him and his cohorts – to ‘overwhelmingly’ prefer white shoes is because that’s pretty much all they’ve been serving up since the Loch Ness monster was first sighted. It’s hard to argue with Goliath, but then I have to wonder why his emmissary came a’calling in the first place? Our booth wasn’t exactly in the center of the convention center or on his way to Starbucks. We hadn’t taken out a full page ad in The PGA magazine or anything.

The moral of this story, in case it needs telling, is that there’s only one reason a big corporate guy like that goes out of his way to see what a pesky little June Bug like Equipt is up to and that’s because he’s heard talk on the street and is wondering if we’ve got something tasty cooking. He’s wondering if he needs to be concerned about a small band of boat-rockers who are making waves with great looking golf shoes for women (comfortable beyond his wildest imagination) and serving up a lovely buffet of color, style – and comfort – to women golfers everywhere.

PASS THE TUMS

Is there an appetite out there, he’s asking himself? Could he have missed – egads – The BOAT? Well, Big G, while we’re dancing the jig over here and shipping just as fast as we can, you’re going to be enjoying some serious heartburn when you see Equipt for Play golf shoes in O Magazine in May. (Your heard me. They have 16 million women readers with credit cards and appetites as big as all outdoors. Pass the Tums.) So the answer is yes. There’s an appetite out there. You might want to get busy and haul out some of that ‘stuff’ in your back room, and while you’re busy dusting it off, we’ll be watching you in our rear view mirror as we motor on down the road with style. Later alligator.

PS
I want to give a shout out to all the intrepid golf pro shop buyers who are willing to take a chance on a new brand like ours – and those of other women entrepreneurs – and are trying to make a difference in the world of women’s golf. Kudos to you.

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