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Date: February, 2010 The PGA Merchandise Show is the world's largest golf merchandise trade show. For three days each year (January 28th through 30th this year) golf manufacturers and service companies display their latest offerings to tens of thousands of PGA pros and buyers for off-course golf shops and resorts. That may sound like fun to a golfer, but if you're a buyer, it's an exhausting schedule of meetings with suppliers, and hours of walking up and down the aisles. Our goal is to offer the very best to our corporate clients and tournament buyers, so we look for innovative products from new companies as well as outstanding current lines from established manufacturers. In our case, we met with over half of the nearly 60 golf manufacturers we represent, and saw the new products offered by virtually every one that exhibited. The sheer size of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando dictates that we research in advance which manufacturers have booths nearby our other vendors, and schedule appointments in advance of the show to group meetings by area. That allows us to spend the maximum amount of our "unscheduled" time - before our appointment blocks start, after they end, and between them - walking up and down the aisles taking a quick peak at everyone else's lines. In several cases, we saw something so fresh, different or simply outstanding that we needed to set yet another appointment to discuss representing them. It's also the perfect opportunity for advance trend-spotting - and the top trends for 2010: In apparel, performance fabrics continue to dominate the mid-range. 100% long-staple Egyptian and Pima cottons remain most popular for the top-of-the-line brands, but performance blends with those luxury fibers are gaining on them. In addition to the "miracle" micro-polyesters that wick moisture, dry quickly, and keep you cool in hot weather, bamboo and "Cocona" fibers have gained popularity in performance blends. Bamboo is a natural fiber that's strong, very soft, extremely water-absorbent, and not only resists unpleasant odors but promotes a sweet smell. Cocona is produced from the charcoal of coconut hulls. Don't ask me how they do it - but the fabrics are lightweight, comfortable, have natural stretch, and launder and wear beautifully. These fibers also take dye beautifully, and a second trend we spotted was more vibrant colors in the seasonal collections - including deep blues and rich reds for both men and women. In accessories, for the first time, we saw ball markers in shapes beyond the traditional round coin - squares, oblongs, ovals, and rectangular with rounded corners. Not only do these distinctive-looking medallions make a beautiful embellishment for the divot tools, cap clips and other products to which they attach, but the user will certainly have no problem telling which ball marker on the green is his! It was harder to spot trends in equipment, since several of the majors elected not to exhibit this year, but one was clearly to address the new groove limitation with groove shapes and shaft advances that promote spin. Stay tuned. New products: We also saw a number of exciting new products from one of our favorite suppliers, CMC Golf. The Blade is a cool new switchblade divot tool (with rectangular ball markers!) that comes packaged with a sheath, and the metal bag tag with built-in easel makes a great souvenir for a pro-am or celebrity tournament. As for new apparel lines, we were impressed by the quality and features of the 100% waterproof rain jackets, rain pants, and rain suits of The Weather Company, a new entrant. But what totally blew us away was the pricing - they're designed to retail at $100 for a complete rain suit! We have no idea how they can make seam-sealed waterproof garments with features like zip-off sleeves on the jackets at these prices. Even with logo embroidery, these are so affordable in tournament quantities that a rain jacket will fit in a typical charity tournament gift budget, and an entire rain suit is a reasonable possibility for many. We were also extremely impressed with the new 2010 in-stock and fashion collections from several of our current brands - and by the virtually complete lack of price increases! Just as an example, the new 2010 in-stock collection from Bobby Jones was simply spectacular, and not a single replacement model is at a higher price than its predecessor in the 2008/2009 in-stock line. Our only regret is that it'll be several months before most of the new models arrive and and are available to sell. We can hardly wait! Our top priority is to update our brand pages for the new models, so please visit them - and if they don't yet show the new and current lines, please stop back soon.
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