A Fashion Icon has come Home to Roost: Return of the King

by
rick young
Ph o t o g ra p h by
—
Chr is Gallow Fidra Island has a way of touching a man’s soul. From Yellowcraigs Beach near
Scotland’s North Berwick, this uninhabited bird sanctuary in the Firth of Forth
boasts a majestic charm, with its 123-year-old lighthouse flashing twenty-four nautical miles out to sea at one end of an isthmus and a rugged rocky stack dominating
the other. Those who gaze upon its stark beauty proclaim it a powerful and creative
inspiration. Such was the case with Robert Louis Stevenson, who based his 1883
novel Treasure Island on it, even using the island’s outline for the story’s treasure
map. More recently, progressive rock band Marillion mentioned Fidra Island in their
song “Warm Wet Circles,” referencing the “dancing beams of the Fidra Lighthouse.”
In 1999, it was John Ashworth's turn to be inspired. The Southern California
clothing designer arrived here at something of a career crossroads, having departed
one successful golf brand, Ashworth Golf, to start another. Drawn to the charms of
the Scottish landmark, Ashworth would adopt the Fidra name for his new venture.
“Linksoul” was its marketing slogan, a concept intimately connecting a player
to the experience of the outdoors. For Ashworth, it meant staying true to the soul
A has
fashion icon
come home to roost
return
of the King
One of the most influential fashion
icons of modern golf, John Ashworth
is again standing tall with the
trendsetting company he founded.
—
Abecame
s a brand distinction, the Golf Man insignia
as important to Ashworth as the
“
tion, he would suggest, is contrived. He's no fashion mogul, he
maintains. He’s simply a passionate golfer, a guy with a penchant for style who has stayed true to the game through his
playing experiences around the world. Still, for a generation of
golfers the Ashworth brand became synonymous with fashionforwardness. It was made famous on Tour in the late 1980s by
Fred Couples and John Cook, augmented later by people like
Ernie Els and still worn today by Couples, Chris DiMarco, Steve
Flesch, Mark Calcavecchia, Brett Wetterich, Nick Watney and
CBS Announcer Jim Nantz, among others.
Career choices
Ashworth was going through some rocky times until he visited Fidra Island in 1999.
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G O L F S T Y L E
knew the game well enough. But he was
rocket ship ride filled with creative colso laid-back. Qualifying School is such a
laborations and stimulating growth.
pressure cooker. You need someone who
But at the height of its popularity a
can keep you loose like that.”
political power struggle began to unfold at
publicly traded Ashworth Golf. The original
Ashworth fondly recalls his time on the
bag. “Mark tried six times before, and then
band broke up and the key design team,
got his card that year with me,” he smiles.
including Ashworth himself, went their
“I went full-time with him the next year
separate ways.
(1984) and made $19,000. It wasn’t a lot,
He refuses to elaborate on specifics,
but I enjoyed it. It felt like a million-dollar
although it’s no secret that Ashworth and
company CEO Randy Herrel had strong
experience.”
Ashworth's combination of soft collars, cotton composition,
That said, Ashworth felt it was time to modern style and links to golf's past revolutionized the industry. differences of opinion over the company’s
direction. The product was drifting into
move along. He got involved in sports management, hooking up with a few young golf
distribution chains generally associated
pros and the California Beach Volleyball Tour, but the gig turned into
with discounting, which is not where Ashworth wanted to go.
“high priced babysitting." A stint as a buyer/merchandiser in a sporting
“From a corporate structure things changed pretty rapidly,” he says
goods store followed. One of his regular product purchases, as fate
bluntly. “I had issues with some people there, issues we shouldn’t have
would have it, was golf apparel. “The stuff was awful,” he says. “I’d look
had based on our success. It became about butting heads on stupid
stuff. Right or wrong, I should have stood my ground and fought it out
at these boxy, boring poly deals and think, ‘Man, who wears this?’”
But the small store would eventually fall prey to the growing invaa bit more. But I’m pretty non-confrontational by nature. I said, ‘Okay,
sion of big box retail, leaving Ashworth again to ponder, “what next?”
life’s way to short for this s*@#.’ It was time to leave.”
Going down a California highway one day, an idea that had
On his first pilgrimage to Scotland in 1990, Ashworth fell in love
with the golf-rich atmosphere around the East Lothian area, a small
been incubating in Ashworth’s mind finally sprung to the
Southeast section of the country saturated with links like North
fore. “I said to my buddy, Jerry Montiel, ‘Hey, let’s do a golf line,
something with hipper clothes that our friends would want to wear.’”
Berwick, Muirfield, Musselburgh and the three courses at Gullane.
Having departed from Ashworth, he returned to East Lothian and
In that moment, Ashworth Golf was born.
renewed acquaintances with the linksland of Scotland and, of course,
Fidra. “It’s such a captivating island,” Ashworth observes. “It had this
Founded in 1987 by Ashworth (the inpiration) and Montiel (the busitall lighthouse, it had a beautiful shape. I was very drawn to it.”
Time there got his creative juices flowing again. Inspired, he began
nessman), the company’s soft collars, 100 percent cotton composition
and distinctive combination of Southern California beach culture and
sketching ideas for a new apparel line and came back to California in
Scottish links drew critical acclaim from retailers. Commonly referred
2000. Seeking a return to the industry, he arranged a golf game with
Quiksilver Inc. CEO Bob McKnight. The lifestyle brand company was
to today as “lifestyle wear,” Ashworth’s apparel was capable of transitioning smoothly from the office to dinner to the golf course. Its logo
looking to diversify and golf seemed a logical direction. An on-course
was Golfman—not just any golf man, but one walking with a golf bag
deal was struck for a new line.
on his back, just as the game was meant to be played. As a brand disDebuting at the 2001 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, the fantinction the Golfman insignia, designed by Barry Grimes, became as
fare surrounding Fidra with John Ashworth at the helm was electric.
important to Ashworth as the swoosh is to Nike and the three stripes
Ernie Els signed on. Young guns Zach Johnson and Aaron Oberholser
to adidas. Ashworth marketed itself with sepia photographs taken in
followed. “I was back doing what I loved,” Ashworth says.
unlikely remote locations like railway yards and abandoned wareAlas, boardroom politics would turn sour a second time. Quiksilver’s
purchase of Cleveland Golf and its parent company Groupe Rossignol,
houses. It had immediate cachet and was defined by one word: cool.
Within ten years it was the number-one-selling apparel brand
as well as a subsequent move of Fidra into the corporate head office of
in the game, it boasted a significant Tour presence and was as
Cleveland suddenly meant two things: too many top-priced executives
ingrained in golf consumers' minds as Titleist or Ping. It was a
and a considerable shift in brand direction. Ashworth tendered his res-
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Soft Sells
PHOTO Barry Grimes
of the game. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t follow an industry path
less travelled. With his initial manifestation of Ashworth Golf twelve
years earlier he married the Southern California surf culture with the
deeply ingrained traditions of Scottish links golf and tied them to
100 percent cotton fabrication. It was a soft-collared shift from the
fashion paradigm of rigid-necked nylon golf shirts. And it was
accompanied by a distinct GQ look—clothes tapered for the ideal
fit; precisely coordinated colour choices; accessories designed to
complement and not overpower.
How appropriate, then, that the golf apparel industry’s most celebrated overachiever sports a perpetual GQ look himself, his rugged
good looks punctuating the fact that the Ashworth brand exists as a
testament to a real person and not the collective effort of corporate
marketing. But external appearances, important as they are, only begin
to explain the inner workings of this California free spirit. Without
overstating it, John Ashworth has done for the game’s apparel industry
what Karsten Solheim did in developing perimeter weighting; what
Gary Adams did in creating the first metalwood; what Ely Callaway
did in bringing to market the first oversized driver—he revolutionized
it; he altered the concept that golfers couldn’t be fairway-fashionable.
Is he Yves St. Laurent or Calvin Klein in FootJoys? Such a descrip-
Style always separated John Ashworth. In high school he wasn’t
voted most likely to succeed or most popular or best athlete.
His peers voted him “Best Dressed.” Often he was asked by
classmates to critique them on their fashion choices. He didn’t
hold back. “I was pretty blunt,” he smiles. “I’d look at ’em and
say, ‘Man, where did you get that?’"
Ashworth, though, was a victim of the apparel of the links.
“I played in high school and at the University of Arizona and,
believe me, it was not cool to be a golfer, because golf course
fashion was so specific, so regimented, so cliché. I remember
hearing kids say: ‘Hey, what are you going to be for Halloween?
Oh, I’m going to be this nerdy golfer.’ I grew up always conscious of my clothes and my appearance. But I also grew up
a golfer. The two didn’t complement each other very well.”
Still, Ashworth never thought he’d one day parlay his
fashion sense into a full-time pursuit. “Golf is where I thought I
was going to make my career,” says the product of San Luis Rey
Downs Golf Club and former San Diego City Junior champion.
“I just loved the game. I remember as a kid just hating Sunday school
and my mom giving me this choice one day: either it was Sunday school
or caddying for my father Sunday mornings. Like, are you kidding me?
“It was a dawn patrol thing,” Ashworth remembers. “He probably
pulled the cart himself half the time, but the colours, the smells, the
green grass—it was all pretty infectious. As I got older and started to
play junior golf I became even more drawn to the game. That’s when
I got thinking, ‘Man, how can I spin this into my livelihood?’”
Ashworth contemplated professional golf. A career in course architecture seemed another likely pursuit after securing a Bachelor of
Science in Agronomy (celebrated American designer Tom Doak would
become a good friend with whom Ashworth would do some work later
in life). But fresh out of college the course design business appeared
somewhat daunting and Ashworth had to lower his expectations. He
settled for a job as an assistant greens superintendent. Mark Wiebe had
another idea. A junior golf contemporary of Ashworth’s, the aspiring
pro needed a caddie on the mini tours and thought his friend would
enjoy the lifestyle. A deal was struck: Carry the bag and go with him to
the 1983 PGA Tour Qualifying School.
“I hadn’t had much luck up to that point,” recalls Wiebe, now a
member of the Champions Tour. “John was a real good player, so he
swoosh is to Nike and the three stripes to adidas.”
G O L F S T Y L E
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At left, company president Eddie Fadel is happy to see that Ashworth will be part of the future. But history remains
at the core of the company’s branding, including Barry Grimes’classic photography of the iconic Golf Man more than two decades ago.
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brand is absolutely what it needs. It will invigorate it. People are going
to get excited about it again. He’ll get that California cool image back.”
The original creative nucleus of Ashworth and Grimes has returned.
And there’s a Canadian connection, with Montrealer Allan Fletcher
having moved to California to assume the role of CEO with the retirement of Weil. The company has designated 2008 as a rebirth of the
brand, although it’s more an evolution than a revolution.
“It’s really about a reconnection to the core founding principles
of the brand,” Ashworth said at this year’s PGA Show. “It’s about form
following function. We want to make sure our products are lifestylebased. We try and represent our west coast California roots, add some
urban contemporary detail and a dash of European influence to create
clothes and accessories for people who enjoy golf but don’t want to be
labelled a golf geek.”
Most interesting is how John Ashworth has transitioned quickly and
effectively into modern technical fabrics, a place where the company
had been dragging its collective heels. But even here his roots for cotton
continue to show. “To me, the fabric is ninety percent of the design
effort,” he says. “We take great pride in the craftsmanship of garment
making and then apply that to the golfer's usage on or off the course.
Polyester shirts today that people call ‘performance wear,’ I think, are
on their way out. I’m big on blending poly and cotton. We’ve got some
technical stuff with pima cotton and poly that’s amazing. We call it ‘3rd
Groove Performance.' It’s named for that moment when a perfectly
struck golf ball makes contact with the third groove of the clubface.”
John Ashworth is back where he belongs. He’s enjoying time spent
with the company’s new environmentally friendly Organics line—
“Environment is important to us. Think about it: golf, grass, earth,
air and water are inexorably linked.” And there’s the hipper, younger
mindset of ASHW 33, Ashworth Weather Systems (AWS) and the company’s 100 percent luxury cotton EZ Tech products.
Life will always be about where you’ve been, he notes, but it’s also
about where you’re heading. “Going to work every day is a gas,” he says.
“There aren’t too many times when you start something, go away from
it for a long time and then come back. It’s been an absolute rush.” GS
G O L F S T Y L E
PHOTOS (TOP MIDDLE AND TOP RIGHT) Barry Grimes
ignation. “Bad timing, bad luck, I don’t know,” he says of his parting
from Fidra. “I’m proud of what was built there. But the culture of the
brand was not where I envisioned it going.”
Sitting on the sidelines, John Ashworth was again an industry free
agent. He played some golf, hooked up with friends like Titleist putter
designer Scotty Cameron and spent quality time with sons Luke and
Max while contemplating “what next?” Behind the scenes, though,
his next move was being made for him, with shareholder unrest at
Ashworth Golf leading to a major corporate shakeup. A poorly executed strategy of increased sales over maintaining brand prestige
and authenticity saw Ashworth stock free fall to barely more than
$9 a share, half of what it traded for ten years ago. Casualties on the
board were numerous, none more prominent than chairman and CEO
Randy Herrel, who was replaced by Peter Weil. Taking over in October
2006, one of Weil’s first calls was to the company founder.
“We felt John could help get our heritage back,” says Weil.
“Something had been lost over time with our core customer base,
which is avid green grass golfers. To have John return would not only
be a boost for our distributors and customers, but also a big boost for
our brand worldwide.”
On January 19, 2007, John Ashworth, with his then twelve-yearold Luke at his side, strolled through the doors of the Ashworth Golf
in Carlsbad, California, for the first time in a decade. He did so amid
a standing ovation from over 100 employees and staff. It was the sort
of homecoming he’d dreamed about. “I always felt like there might be
a set of circumstances where I could come back,” says Ashworth, who
returned in a brand development and brand ambassador role. “You
never know when, but it’s that feeling you get when you see old friends
you haven’t seen in a long time, and it’s like yesterday.”
One week later on the other side of the country, the PGA Merchandise
Show in Orlando was again abuzz with news that Ashworth was headed
back home. Golf Channel business and legal analyst Adam Barr compared his return to Don Henley going back to his former band, the
Eagles. “Take an integral piece of the band away and the music isn’t
quite the same,” Barr explained. “Having John back with the Ashworth