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Former Victoria’s Secret executive Megan LaMothe started Foray Golf, a line from which I have numerous outfits, just after what she described to me as the “athleisure-revolution”. That’s when gym/yoga clothes moved beyond the studio. She personally worked on the Victoria’s Secret Sport team and saw that vertical grow by the millions. All around her she witnessed female athletes expressing themselves through diverse apparel. But not for golf. So she ventured out on her own creating a line with some unique qualities she reveals in our interview.
–Tracey
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What were your primary motivations and observations about the women’s golf apparel market when you started Foray?
Obviously, like most people who start a business, we wanted to solve a problem…however, our goal reached beyond the typical “I personally have nothing to wear” storyline. We tasked ourselves to solve the issue for all women.
On the course, we were still stuck wearing a costume. This revolution in women’s athletic gear wasn’t being adopted by the big brands and we continued to be treated as an afterthought. There is a sound business case why they didn’t move to change quickly: the money (and the production scale) comes from menswear. After all, a guy will buy the same polo 10 times as long as it has a different logo embroidery. We just don’t shop the same way. Things need to work and I want to feel confident and authentic in my own skin. At the time, I couldn’t even find a golf skirt with a pocket and as a beginner at the time it was a nightmare!
So, our team made the decision to really pay attention. Not only to fit and fashion trend, but to consciously build a business that supported other women: from our factory base, to our suppliers, to our actual employees. It’s all about women supporting other women. Our product legitimately looks amazing and it really works! We use better fabrics, make it in better factories and with an obsession on quality that rivals high fashion brands. The relative value you get out of Foray is significantly higher than lots of our competitors. I can think of only two other brands in the entirety of golf that use the same quality of fabric.
I take customer feedback and preference extremely seriously— so much so that I am the one who answers all the messages on our website. Most of the time people are shocked that they are getting the CEO to help with a fit question, but when they realize we’re a small group of 6 full-time employees they’re really blown away. Our players on the LPGA/Symetra tour wear exactly the same product bought by consumers, and so everyone in Foray should feel like they’re part of our team.
How long has Foray Golf been around?
I started the business in November 2016, launched to customers July 2017… so this Summer is our 3rd anniversary. It’s also, importantly, the company is named after MY daughter (Rae, of For-Ray, get it?) The idea was to demonstrate to her in a real way how women can work together to build something and change the status quo.
Where do you make your clothing?
We manufacture in NYC, LA and Sri Lanka. Most importantly is that we only work with factories that are owned by women, run by women or have programs that actively promote women into senior leadership positions.
One of our NYC factories is run by a wonderful woman and her entire family— her husband does the cutting, she does the fitting/pattern making, her son is the head of finance. It’s truly a family operation and we’re lucky to have them as partners.
The vast majority of our fabrics are Italian— other brands would be crazy to spend the money we do on our raw materials. We think of it like being a chef. If you’re going to make the best meal, you need to start with the best ingredients. We’re firmly in farm to table, small batch territory here.
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