Ladies Golf Clothing – The Design Process

Ever wondered how a range of golf clothing is designed and what steps are taken. We talk to the head designer at Green Lamb about designing a range of ladies golf clothing.

  • Q – What is your background Deirdre?
    • A – I have worked in design for many years. Before I joined Green Lamb I was designing both men’s and women’s clothing collections.
  • Q – When did you join Green Lamb?
    • A – Oh, it must be over 15 years since I started here!
  • Q – In a few lines what defines the Green Lamb Golf Clothing brand?
    • A – Green Lamb is a great brand to be involved with. Its customer is very loyal and as they have grown up and styles have changed so has the brand, which means it is always fresh.
  • Q – How does the design process work for a new collection like the Spring/Summer 2010 range for Green Lamb?
    • A – Design tends to be a constant evolution so there really is no start point to our design process. The team here is always on the lookout for inspiration, whether that’s new fabrics, trims, styles or colours. We are always brainstorming ideas, which is development work for future seasons.
      This means that when the time comes to start putting together a new season’s collection we already have an idea of colours and influences for the range. We also meet with the sales and marketing team who give us helpful feedback they have had from our customers. We marry all of this together to create the collection.
  • Q – What was your inspiration for the Green Lamb Spring/Summer 2010 collection?
    • A – Colour is really important when we put together new collections. We look at what fashion trends there are and adapt them to our market. Red and black in our Andalucia colour story are really popular and these shades always work well in golf. Pink is an absolute must-have for our customers, but to keep our Milan range original we have combined two pinks, which are really beautiful. The Caribbean opal/melon colour palette best demonstrates how we can adapt fashion trends onto the golf course. The bright opal blue and melon yellow are very popular in the high street with the resurgence of 80’s fashion so we have taken this as inspiration and adapted it to the golf course to create a vibrant collection.
      Another highlight you’ll see in SS10 is diamante and metallic detail. It is a completely new look for Green Lamb and is very feminine. We don’t like the word ‘bling’ but this type of intricate styling on the shirts really gives these garments a fabulous extravagant look.
      One of our additional key objectives was to create easy to wear outfits. The designers always had ‘co-ordination’ in mind with every garment they conceived so every individual item can be teamed with another to effortlessly create lovely outfits. We want our customers to look stylish without thinking about it!
  • Q – How long does it take to design a collection – does it vary between Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter?
    • A – The actual design process takes around 6 months from start to finish. Spring/Summer does tend to take longer than Autumn/Winter simply because the collections are larger. We like to offer customers more variety and a choice of pieces that co-ordinate through each collection. Despite being smaller in size, Autumn/Winter offers its own challenges as we have to cater for a lot of climates with fewer pieces. Our markets include the sunbelts of Europe and the colder countries where courses actually close so our garments have to continue to be appealing in all weathers.
  • Q – How many ranges have you designed for Green Lamb?
    • A – I’ve worked on quite a few of the Green Lamb ranges now – I dread to think how many!
  • Q – Are there any garments that are easier to design than others? Or, is there any particular garment that you prefer to design?
    • A – The most challenging aspect for us is how to keep polo shirts looking new, exciting and fashionable. Obviously every garment has to have a collar, but we keep things fresh by changing the shape of the collar, varying the sleeve lengths, altering neck shapes and the placket detailing.
  • Q – What is your fashion must-have for this season off the golf course?
    • A – Colourful suede wedges that will brighten up any outfit and military inspired shirt dresses. These are great as they are really easy to wear and there are styles to suit all shapes and age groups. Leather tops will also be really popular, even though they’re not to everyone’s taste!
  • Q – What trends should we look forward to this year?
    • A – You will see a lot of Military influences around and also fringing in accessories. White is also making a huge come back again. This Spring, jewellery can be bold but it needs to be chic, elegant and glamorous without being too showy.

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