How Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas are disrupting golf’s apparel market – The Athletic

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tommy Fleetwood had to look, just to be sure. First, down at his sweat-wicking polo, then at his loose-fitting slacks.

“This is a Vuori shirt,” he said Tuesday, walking along the 18th fairway at TPC Sawgrass with The Athletic. “And Lululemon pants.”

It’s an all too common question in today’s age of Instagram ‘fit-checks: What are you wearing? It’s gone beyond the red carpet — influencers make a generous living answering it. But professional golfers? The question is not asked because the answer is always the same: Most top-ranked golfers are contractually obligated to wear a particular brand.

However, Fleetwood and Justin Thomas, who teed off in the same pairing at The Players Championship on Thursday, represent an emerging trend in professional golf’s fashion space. Both Fleetwood and Thomas are currently apparel free agents. They don’t have signed deals with a clothing company, so they don’t have planned-out, logoed outfits set for the tournament — a practice also known as scripting.

Fleetwood parted ways with Nike ahead of the new year after a 16-year partnership. And Thomas is no longer signed with Greyson, a golf apparel brand in which he is an investor. So both players are shopping around, mixing and matching, and throwing on whatever they please.

“I have the freedom and the luxury of trying what I want or wearing what I want and seeing what I like,” Fleetwood said in his press conference Tuesday. “So I think there’s just such a widespread (array) of clothes that I probably never paid attention to for such a long time.”

On Thursday morning, Fleetwood arrived on the range wearing blue slacks and a lighter blue Players Championship-branded polo from Johnnie-O. He wore Nike golf shoes with gold-plated hardware and a Players hat to match his shirt. Then, when it started raining, he threw on a hoodie from Sun Day Red, Tiger Woods’ brand.

Thomas walked onto the first tee with a white Holderness & Bourne shirt and tan belt, paired with Nantucket-red pants of unknown branding. He’s also back in a classic silhouette spiked golf shoe, the Footjoy Premieres, after wearing a sneaker-like model for several years. Thomas and Fleetwood are well aware that they’re in a very similar position.

“Yeah, we’ve kind of joked and seen each other here and there,” Thomas said. “We’ll kind of look at the tag, see what’s going on.”

Things first got interesting when Fleetwood showed up at January’s Dubai Invitational without a single Nike swoosh present on his person. The suspicions were confirmed at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where it looked like Fleetwood raided the pro shop before hitting the driving range. He sported the oceanside course’s logo on an assortment of caps, beanies and sweaters all week. At the Genesis Invitational, his collection of gear expanded: Fleetwood wore Riviera apparel, but he also donned streetwear-inspired Malbon Golf for the first time. Malbon sent him a shipment after getting a call from their ambassador, Jason Day: “Can Tommy have some stuff?”

“Duh, I’d love to,” Stephen Malbon, the brand’s co-founder, said. Day also used to be a Nike athlete, before pivoting to the brand that likes to push the envelope of what defines golf apparel.

“It’s amazing to see him dress how he really wants to. Not how he is scripted,” Malbon said. “Personality-wise, it’s great to see.”

Justin Thomas, shown at The Players Championship on Thursday, says he’ll joke with Tommy Fleetwood about their status as apparel free agents. “We’ll kind of look at the tag, see what’s going on,” he said. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)

Brands are eating up the opportunity to dress Fleetwood and Thomas, two of golf’s most recognizable and marketable stars. Fleetwood is currently No. 3 in the world, and Thomas is No. 14, despite missing the season’s first two months due to a back injury. Thomas has been receiving shipments from Holderness & Bourne, which is why you’re seeing him gravitate toward the high-end clothing brand. And Fleetwood says he’s almost overwhelmed by the options he’s been presented with.

“There’s a lot of clothes in my car and in my room,” Fleetwood says. “And I just pick what I feel like matches on the day, actually. I could be a little more organized and have the outfits set out for the week, but I haven’t got that far yet.”

Beyond the relatable thought of two of the best golfers in the world staring at their closets, wondering what to put on before a tee time, there’s a lot of earnings potential coming out of Fleetwood’s and Thomas’s situations. Apparel deals can come in a variety of structures and forms. Some players sign with a brand that prevents them from striking deals with other corporate sponsors. Other contracts provide more flexibility. This is why you’ll see a player like Justin Rose wearing Peter Millar threads, but with Workday stamped on his chest and Morgan Stanley on his hat. Whereas Nike athletes are only permitted to wear the swoosh: The company buys up the rights to all available space on their shirts and hats.

Knowing Thomas and Fleetwood’s status in the pro game, industry sources estimate a flexible apparel deal could be in the million-dollar range. A more constricting contract would multiply that.

The longer Thomas and Fleetwood go without signing a binding deal, the more interest they’re generating. It’s a fun game for fans to turn on their TVs, wondering what each player has picked out for their round. It’s even more interesting for the players and their agents, who are sitting back and watching as the brands keep calling.