Birds of Condor founder Frankie Kimpton and his Mushroom Records co-workers used to frequent the driving range on their lunch breaks. They stuck out on the bays.
“We’d rock in with our black jeans and Guns N’ Roses tees on and get some very interesting looks from the Titleist shirt-tucked, ‘Perry Pros’ that maxed out the bays,” Kimpton recalled. “No disrespect to those guys, but the vibe was pretty thick and uninviting. That’s when I realized there was nothing really catering, from a fashion sense in golf, for the rest of us – and we could hit a ball real good, too.”
Seven years in and that same unique spin on golf, intertwined with music and surf, has helped set the Byron Bay, Australia-based brand apart from what’s become a highly competitive and rapidly growing golf lifestyle apparel space. It’s part of a crop of younger brands, with fashionable, brand-relevant, and sometimes irreverent takes on golf that also includes labels such as Malbon, Puffingtons, Bogey Boys, and more.
Birds of Condor – the name a reference to a hole-in-one on a par-5 hole – is now in more than 50 Australian retailers, plus more globally, and recently brought on Craig Warton as national wholesale manager to further expand distribution. This year the company launched a full-fledged women’s collection. There are also more collaborations in the works, along with a flagship concept shop in Australia, with potential to follow that up with a U.S. store.
“So many plans and not enough time,” Kimpton said in surveying what lies ahead.
Looks from a Birds of Condor collaboration with Coogi. Photo courtesy of Birds of Condor.
Surf and Golf Crossover
Rewinding back to Birds of Condor’s start, Kimpton saw the niche early on in building the brand around his personal interests.
“I came from a surfing background as my first sport growing up, and golf was something we did when there were no waves,” Kimpton said. “By the time I started playing more and more golf, I was pretty cooked on the surf scene and realized that bringing my background of music, surf, street to golf was something fresh and against the grain at the time.”
The blending of golf and surf makes plenty of sense as does distribution of golf brands such as TravisMathew in core surf shops, according to Eric Stanton, senior director of surf and skate market intelligence firm ActionWatch. There’s also the fact that many surfers, like Kimpton, play golf.
“It’s not completely farfetched that core surfers, if they were to see a golf brand in a surf shop, that that product couldn’t work there,” Stanton said.
Birds of Condor founder Frankie Kimpton. Photo courtesy of Birds of Condor.
Tiger Woods and TaylorMade’s recent reveal of the new golf apparel label Sun Day Red will be backed by a San Clemente office that’s already tapped surf industry expertise, including President Brad Blankinship, further exemplifying the crossover of the two sports. Blankinship previously served as global general manager of Quiksilver and global GM of RVCA.
“Golf is such a sassy industry right now, but it has been for the last five years-plus in my opinion,” Kimpton said of the more recent attention on golf lifestyle brands.
“There’s lot’s going on with LIV, PGA, and DP tours. Obviously, Tiger’s Sun Day Red launch and smaller indie brands acquiring tour players that never would have seen it 10 years ago,” he said. “More and more people are teeing it up and numbers across all channels are on the rise.”
Taking Off
Birds of Condor began as a direct-to-consumer brand with 10 hat styles, and the market – particularly international – quickly took to its designs.
“The global reception caught us off guard to begin with,” Kimpton said. “We thought that the Aussie market was going to be solid from the outset, but Birds connected better with USA, Japanese, and South Korean customers
A glowing online review early on pointed out the fact that the brand didn’t sell one polo on its site, so Kimpton got to work on Birds of Condor’s next category.
Hats remain the business’s top sellers, but Kimpton said polos, bottoms, and accessories are fast approaching headwear sales.
Birds later entered wholesale through a combination of golf courses and boutiques, supporting Kimpton’s thesis that Birds of Condor could serve as a true lifestyle business drawing the attention of nearly any consumer.
“One of the best comments I ever heard was from a customer who said, ‘I didn’t even know you guys were a golf brand; I just loved the hats.’ To me, that confirmed that we were on track with our brand,” Kimpton said. “It’s all-inclusive gear that very much appeals to golfers (and) non-golfers. It’s a lifestyle.”
Designs have played a big part in the brand’s draw. There’s typically a reference to music, surf, or pop culture that ties back to golf in “some quirky way or another,” Kimpton described.
“We are an art-heavy brand and absolutely thrive on working with an array of artists from around the world to level up our ideas.”
Having written songs in the past, Kimpton likened the apparel collaboration process with other artists to songwriting.
“I live for that edit process at Birds – from the initial concept through to how we mix (and) master it and then on to how it’s launched and marketed,” Kimpton said. “(It’s) so similar to working on a single, EP, or album for me.”
From the Birds of Condor women’s collection. Photo courtesy of Birds of Condor.
Shifting Tides and a New Wave
With Warton at the reins now in wholesale, that side of the business has only “just pressed play,” Kimpton said.
Core surf specialty is an area that will continue to grow, with Sun Diego an example of an industry retailer that carries the brand.
As retailers remain on a never-ending quest to scope out what’s new and add more variety to their assortments, Kimpton and the rest of the team hope Birds is top of mind in those efforts.
“Funnily enough,” Kimpton said, “so many of our surfing buddies love playing golf and a lot of the WSL surfers and managers have been rocking Birds gear for years. But speaking with (Sun Diego President and CEO) Dave (Nash), who has been surfing and playing golf forever, and his support for what Birds is doing and that lifestyle shift from your more traditional surf brands to now offering a ‘golf brand’ to his customers, is really inspiring and shows how golf is pushing the boundaries. It feels really good to be a part of that new wave.”
