FIT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

It’s a sunny day in the UK, Spring is coming.

After a cold winter it’s a great feeling to put on your golf shirts and feel the warmth of the sun on your back. And what could be better than knowing your shirts are made using wind and solar power. How many golf pros today will have the same feeling of wearing apparel which uses renewable energy resources? Instead of breathing fumes made from burning fossil fuels. Is that the future they wish to endorse and promote to their fans?

Golf Refugees carbon neutral polos fit for the 21 st Century.

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FASHION WITH A STORY YOU CAN BE PROUD OF

Could this be an accurate conversation between Rory and Nike during their recent contract negotiations?

Nike to Rory: We’d like to make you filthy rich, just like Tiger and dress you ‘head to toe’ in Nike apparel.

Rory. Is Nike gear any good?

Nike. Everyone we pay says our gear is great.

Rory: Can I ask ‘how is your apparel made’?

Nike. You’ve no need to worry about that, just concentrate on hitting the ball.

Rory. But what about all the toxic chemicals and pollution?

Nike. You'll be fine, just don't buy a house near any of our subcontracted factories and don't suck on your shirt.

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HACKED

There’s a story in the papers today about how the Americans have traced a number of hacked sites to a single building in China.

Now I’m not saying our ‘golf-refugees.com’ site is of any importance, but someone hacked it and we’re are currently trying to clean it up.

When something like this happens your mind starts wondering about potential enemies and conspiracy theories.

It’s fair to say we do have a propensity to criticize others and we are seeking therapy for this in the form of meditation.
 
So here's a list of those we have openly moaned about and in all cases for very good reasons;

Nike - (ripping of our original black ball)

Callaway Golf - (copying our swept aerofoil hosel design)
R&A - (not allowing women members)

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BECOME AN ICONIC FIGURE IN GOLF

‘Become an iconic figure in golf’ competition.

Do you dream of being an iconic figure in golf, following in the footsteps of your favourite player? Well, Golf Refugees are giving you the chance to break a 145 year-old golf record that will bring you the notoriety you deserve and put your name into the record books.

It’s true to say some golfers are more blessed with talent than others, but don’t let this hold you back. The Open is ‘open’ to all golfers to try and gain qualification into the one of the best golf tournaments in the world – The British Open. So this summer, take your bats and make history.

But how, I hear some of you say. Well, Golf Refugees golfing hero the late, great Maurice Flitcroft back in 1976 made history by recording the highest ever score of 121 shots in British Open qualifier at Formby.

Golf Refugees hereby summon all golfers to enter Open qualification and use their tenacity to post a higher score. To the winner, iconic golf status beckons.

To accompany your new found fame, Golf Refugees will chuck-in a Maurice Flitcroft button badge and even consider offering Maurice Flitcroft apparel in the form of polo’s & t-shirts.

Some encouraging words from our hero, who'd come to golf late after reading a Peter Alliss instruction manual;

"I discovered I really liked the game, and I picked it up pretty quick"

"I used to practice every night, sometimes for as much as an hour or two."

Occasionally, he wandered near a golf course. "I'd park at the perimeter and nip over the fence and hit a few shots."

He was 46 years old and living on Social Security. For that summer's Open, he borrowed the entry fee from his wife, Jean.

On the first tee; "Flitcroft hoisted it straight up, it came down vertically, and the ball traveled precisely four feet."

After bollixing the first tee shot, he abandoned his driver. "I got the 3-iron out and played safe, except I wasn't that great with the 3-iron. I should have used the 4-wood, but I'd left that in the car." Flitcroft added, wistfully, "I was an expert with the 4-wood, deadly accurate."

Nothing can stop you now. Not even the R&A.

To enter our ‘Become an iconic figure in golf’ competition. Just e-mail us your name and Open qualification venue, stating 'Become an iconic figure in golf'. Best of luck.

refugees@btinternet.com
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TRUST

You have to admire brands who are prepared to look beyond the usual marketing hype that surrounds products, and provide customers with ‘real’ information.
 
Here’s what outdoor clothing brand Patagonia says about one of their latest jackets;
 
“While it is durable and 60% recycled, it still costs more than it sells for, given that its manufacture uses enough drinking water for 45 people, generates 20 times its weight in carbon dioxide emissions and two-thirds its weight in scrap”.
 
How refreshing.
 
Brands rely upon building customer loyalty. But how can you trust any brand that isn't prepared to tell you the good the bad and the ugly?
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RACE TO THE BOTTOM

Golf Refugees are proposing a new customer information label for all sportswear apparel. Based upon a simple traffic light symbol indicating how your apparel is made.

You may feel it highly unlikely any of the major sportswear brands would even consider introducing a new labelling system. Until you learn this year one of the leading sportswear brands will introduce a new labelling concept advising consumers about which of their products fit them best in terms of their performance level.

Instead of the ‘race to the bottom’ mentality. Informing consumers of how their apparel is made will provide incentives for all sportswear brands to start a race to finding alternative, safer chemicals, using sub-contracted factories who recycle their toxic dye-water instead of causing widespread pollution in local rivers and paying textiles workers, who are predominantly young and female a living wage.
How does that fit with you?

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IS BILL MURRAY A GOLF REFUGEE?

Is Bill Murray a golf refugee?
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RENO IN DIEGO

San Diego's Cortney Reno playing the original black ball and wearing ethically made, organic, screen printed white polo shirt. There are not many golfers who wear ethically made apparel. Most sport brands do not consider the 'environment' as a priority.
They must believe we all play golf on a different planet and no one will notice widespread pollution.
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JUST HOW APPEALING IS POLYESTER?

Granted polyester is the most popular fibre used in sports apparel. I wonder why?
Do you know it takes annually 70 million barrels of oil to make your polyester fibre for textiles..
The same polyester abbreviated to PET, yes there are numerous varieties, is also used to make plastic drinking bottles. Handy for sports brands to make and provide you with both plastic clothing and plastic drinking bottles from the same source material. To manufacture PET you need to use a catalyst and the catalyst of choice, bonded into 85% of all sports apparel, is Antimony. Now, Antimony just happens to be a cancer causing heavy metal. But don't worry about that, as the chemical industry will tell you it is firmly bonded into the finished polymer. The only trouble is it is released into the environment as a gas; antimony trioxide during production and when incinerated for landfill.
So there you are, most of you are playing sport in plastic shirts, derived from petroleum, bonded with a cancer causing element. Isn't it refreshing to know what you are really wearing next to your skin and interacting with via sweating?
Funny how none of this is mentioned in sports apparel reviews or by sports brands or their sponsored athletes. Perhaps we all need to start asking questions about the sport apparel we endorse, if we want to leave a safer, less polluted environment for our children.
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DRUG USE WIDESPREAD IN AUSTRALIAN SPORT

"The use of substances, including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs, is widespread amongst professional athletes. We are talking about multiple athletes across a number of sports. We're talking about a number of teams.
The findings indicate the drugs are being facilitated by sports scientists, coaches, support staff as well as doctors and pharmacists. In some cases, sports scientists and others are orchestrating the doping of entire teams. In some cases, players are being administered substances which have not yet been approved for human use."
The report said that organised crime was involved in the distribution of the drugs, which exposes players to the possibility of being co-opted into match-fixing.
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IF ONLY

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LOOKS GOOD

This is what 'made in China' really looks like. Off the scale pollution from coal fired power stations. Next time you're playing golf, whether you are a golf professional or a golf fan, breathing in the fresh air on your local course, take a second to read your golf apparel label.
You may not live in China but you do live on the same planet. How sustainable is it for western brands to use high polluting coal to make their goods? There is a price to pay, maybe not for you immediately.
For affluent golf professionals do you really want to continue to endorse this pollution? Alternatively, how about promoting apparel made from renewable wind and solar power?
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