Saturday, January 16, 2010

In 2010's Most Perplexing Apparel Development...



(Photos the sole property of The Associated Press and/or Reuters Photos)

Ryuji Imada signed a 2-year shirt deal with Cutter & Buck...

Imada, who has sported Lacoste polos for the last several years, is an interesting fit for the brand that is probably best known for clothing Stuart Appleby and Annika Sorenstam - and, of course, providing that old member-guest shirt you never wear. (I kid.)

Cutter & Buck is one of those companies that do a lot behind the scenes - with wholesale and other services, but it hasn't been able to generate any fire retail-wise in quite some time. 

They experimented with a younger line, CBUK, which was sold on Fairwaystyles for a while, but the colors are bad and the designs are worse... think puke-green color-blocking...

While Stuart Appleby is perennially one of the better-dressed players on Tour, he's a little older. I don't find C&B really fitting in with Ryuji's slightly edgier, less traditional style. Not that Lacoste really does either - but it's a bit more sporty. Ryuji would mesh well with a really modern, younger line. I hope C&B puts out some stuff that suits him or we could have another Charles Howell situation on our hands...

-KC

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Back in the late '80s and early '90s, I wore apparel by Le Coq Sportif. The colors were great and the shirt designs were fabulous. I cannot find any US outlets for their clothing.

I do not like the big lettering and numbering they have done on some outfits I've seen lately. Are you familiar with this company..??

The Khaki Crusader said...

Look no further then Y.E. Yang, Vince. Those wild shirts he wears... "The Athletic Rooster" -if you will...KC

The Khaki Crusader said...

As far as U.S. availability... Not sure. I know they have a sponsorship agreement with Joakim Noah, so I would think they must have a presence somewhere in US stores. If Y.E. keeps getting all this exposure on the Tour - I'm sure you'll be seeing it more.

Anonymous said...

If it helps Vince any, I live in the UK and Le Coq had some heritage here in the 80's. Tennis and Soccer but never golf. Today the rights to the name has been bought by a Retail chain, and still has no golf Connection. Today it appears to occupy the cheaper end of the scale. Back then it was quite expensive, it does appear to be popular in Asia, where indeed it is perceived as a golf brand. A very confused bird indeed one might say!

Anonymous said...

C&B is not for me. I hate to sound cynical, but money talks in the golf industry. . . . and everywhere else too come to think of it.