ONE TO ELEVEN

What happens when you take the number one ranked golfer in the world, dress him head to toe in Nike apparel and give him the latest Nike clubs and balls? After twelve months he becomes the 11 th best golfer in the world. Just do it......'but with someone else's stuff'
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THE NEXT R&A CHIEF EXECUTIVE

The R&A (Governing body of Golf) Chief Executive Peter Dawson is to retire in September 2015. I wonder if one of the essential skills for any applicant will be wearing a blazer with grey slacks or tailored shorts with long socks if it gets a little hot under the starched collar?
I hope this wont go against my application.
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FORK IN THE ROAD

Exactly a year after the fatal factory collapse at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the work of the two groups of clothing and footwear brands and retailers, which formed to try to prevent any repeat of the tragedy, continues. 

The North American-dominated Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety announced recently that it has now completed more than 50% of the inspections it plans to make of the nearly 700 factories in Bangladesh from which its members source goods. Earlier this year, the more European-dominated Accord for Building and Fire Safety in Bangladesh announced that the number of companies it has convinced to sign up to work for better and safer conditions for factory workers in Bangladesh has grown to 150.

Nike’s name appears on neither list.

The Wall Street Journal spoke to Nike’s head of sustainable business, Hannah Jones. Ms Jones explained that Nike had taken a decision to reduce its sourcing in Bangladesh

She says that "Bangladesh represents a fork in the road for the industry; one path leads to the lowest possible costs brands and retailers can secure. The other leads towards safer factories" The message from Nike seems to be that companies and consumers cannot have it both ways.
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FASHION REVOLUTION DAY

I do find it sad but not surprising that no major golf tour such as the PGA, LPGA or LET are supporting Fashion Revolution Day. I don't know of any golf professional who is supporting it either, which is also very sad. The treatment of textile workers who make our sport clothes will hopefully become more important to all of us. You will see picture after picture of golf stars wearing their apparel. On this day, golf magazines and golf channels should be featuring images of golfers wearing their shirts inside out and asking 'who made our clothes?'
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KATE MIDDLETON THE DUCHESS

If Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) wears a dress it sells out within hours.

A year on from Rana Plaza where 1,133 garment workers died.

Do we need to care more about the people who make our clothes and a little less about the people who wear them?
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EARTH DAY 2014

What should the golf industry be doing on earth day 2014?

Show how golf courses awarded major championships are reducing their water and pesticide usage?

Devise rule changes to encourage the use of environmentally friendly materials for golf equipment and apparel?

Encourage 'cradle to grave' design?
Support compost toilets and energy generation for club houses and courses?
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TW SUPPORTERS

There are many supporters of TW, which is great. We hope many more of you will become fans.
Obviously we mean for Textile Workers (TW). Here's our shirt to support the TW accord, which will hopefully bring better working conditions. Wear with pride.
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GOLF REFUGEES 2014 ORGANIC POLO

Do you have a favourite colour combination for your GR 14 organic polo shirt?
https://www.facebook.com/golfrefugeespage
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MADE IN DISTRESS

Just one week to go before Fashion Revolution day on April 24 th.
Here is Golf Refugees supportive graphic tee.
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SLOTTED SWEPT AEROFOIL FOR A GOLF CLUB HEAD

What are Golf Refugees working on? Apart from our spiral golf ball we are currently developing a ‘composite aero pack’ for a driver club head. Our reasoning;

You've just bought a new driver and it has the latest adjustability and features to slide little weights around. But what happens to your old driver? Is it just left in the garage to gather dust? Golf Refugees believe you could transform the aerodynamic performance of your old driver by simply fixing our ‘aero pack’. Think of it as adding performance parts to your car. Please refer to our rough sketch.

The GR aero pack consists of a ‘slotted swept aerofoil hosel’, which surrounds the bottom part of the golf shaft where it meets the crown of the club head. Aero details include stabilising vanes situated at each slot. There is also an additional spoiler which attaches to the bottom of the aerofoil and projects across the front of the club head and down onto the toe side, just aft of the club face.

Aero pack can be made from aluminium, 3D printed thermoplastic or carbon fibre.

You never know with the aero pack attached to your old driver it may out perform the new driver.

Please let us know your thoughts about the idea of add-on performance parts for golf clubs.
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DO YOU KNOW HOW YOUR GOLF CLOTHES ARE MADE?

When golf professionals earn sponsored apparel deals, do they ever visit any of the factories / textile workers who make their apparel? Has Tiger / Rory ever visited any Nike factory in Indonesia, Cambodia? We all need to connect more with how our clothes are made.


Do Golf magazines and Golf Channels ever feature the factories and textile workers who make the clothes they feature? How about a article on how Tiger's Nike clothes are made?
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NO FREDDIE JUST MERCURY

Heavy metal mercury continues to be used as a component in dyes and as a catalyst in the dyeing process to make brightly coloured clothing? Untreated toxic dye water is washed away through factory outlet pipes into local rivers and lakes where it poisons the fish and shellfish. But the sad, criminal story doesn't end there, textile workers drinking water wells are also contaminated with mercury. Mercury is a bio-accumulative toxin, once it is absorbed by a living system it cannot be expelled by waste, it builds up over time.

Do you know if your favourite apparel brand recycles its toxic dye water?
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UNREPORTED WORLD

Everything looks so beautiful on television, on the magazine pages, on the surface. Professional golfers strolling down the lush green fairways at Augusta. Underneath, the clothing label reveals a clue to an unreported world; 'made in Indonesia', where you'll find the world's most polluted river.

Textile factories outlet pipes turn sections of the Citarum river blue, then red, the colours of our clothes. Untreated toxic dye water, but the story doesn't end there. The textile workers live in villages alongside the river, their drinking water is contaminated by heavy metals such as mercury used to dye fabrics. They are slowly killing their children and themselves with every sip. The very same coloured sport shirts that are pictured and regarded as fashionable are poisoning the Indonesian workers who make them. We need to connect with how are clothes are made not just how they look.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/4od#3682650
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TWO WAYS TO IMPROVE THE MASTERS

Always exciting on the eve of the Masters. Many regard the Masters as the best golf tournament in the world and Augusta National as the most beautiful golf course. But the best can always be better. Here are two ways to improve the Masters;

1). Let the LPGA hold a ladies tournament at Augusta.
Now that Augusta has allowed women members albeit through sponsors commercial pressure. It would give women's golf a major boost. I can't think of a reason why not. Can you?

2) Let caddies wear sandals when they have a medical foot condition.
Masters rookie Matthew Fitzpatrick regular bagman Lorne Duncan has been banned by Augusta for wanting to wear sandals this week.
I know traditionalist will feel this is quite right, but for goodness sake when will golf put people first?
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PATTERNED GOLF BALLS

Footballs are designed with patterns, whether this makes them more visible on TV or just more visually appealing to look at is up for discussion. But how about golf balls?

Would you play with a 360 degree colour patterned golf ball? Watch this short 20 second trailer, filmed at The Bedford Golf Club, and please let us have your comments. Thank you GR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilUpprJeMQ8
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THINKING ABOUT BUYING A NEW PLASTIC POLYESTER SPORT SHIRT?

Next time you're thinking about buying a new plastic 'polyester' sport shirt, here's eight good reasons to think again;

1. Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.

2. We currently recover only five percent of the plastics we produce.

3. The production of plastic uses around eight percent of the world’s oil production.

4. It takes 500-1,000 years for plastic to degrade.

5. Plastic constitutes approximately 90 percent of all trash floating on the ocean’s surface.

6. One million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.

7. Plastic chemicals can be absorbed by the body.

8. Some of these compounds found in plastic have been found to alter hormones in humans.
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THE NUMBER ONE BALL FOR KOREAN PENSIONERS

Who knew that Titleist are now partly owned by the National Pension Service of Korea? That's just the way of world corporate finance. Does that mean every time you buy a Titleist golf ball part of the profit increases the pension pot for Korean nationals? Its interesting to find out who owns the brands we all know so well.
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DO WE NEED TO TAKE PRIDE IN HOW OUR SPORTS SHIRTS ARE MADE?

When investigative journalists uncovered information on how the most expensive £90 Nike England football shirt is made by Indonesian workers earning 30 pence per hour.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/englands-90-world-cup-shirt-3376507

How do you feel about buying and wearing it now? I guess the idea is to wear the Nike England shirt with pride and support the team during this summers football World Cup. But do you need to take pride in how the Nike shirt is made? Top sports stars get paid literally millions to wear such shirts, presumably this sponsorship money makes it easier for them to turn a blind eye. We need a fashion revolution.
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ENJOY WATCHING THE MASTERS

The Golf Refugees Masters Polo.
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STACY LEWIS IS MIFFED WITH GOLF DIGEST

Stacy Lewis the top-ranked American player in the world has never been on the cover of Golf Digest. She was asked what she thought of Golf Digest’s cover choice of super hot, beginner golfer Paulina Gretzky.

“It’s frustrating for female golfers,” Lewis said. “It’s the state of where we’ve always been. We don’t get the respect for being the golfers we are. Obviously, Golf Digest is trying to sell magazines, but at the same time you like to see a little respect for the women’s game.”

Understandably Stacy is a little miffed with Golf Digest but Golf Refugees believe Stacy is in a position to do something about it. These days you don’t need to go to print, there are so many excellent free on-line digital publishers. If Stacy wants to be on the cover, why not take a cover picture of herself, and why not invite some of her LPGA tour colleagues to do the same? It could be a series of cover pics, and where each pro says a few words on how to encourage more women into golf. Every time these athletes do media work they could ask for the link to be included. That way their cover pics and words can generate a good following to hopefully rival Golf Digest.

If Stacy would like to contact us, Golf Refugees would be happy to offer our time for free in helping to produce a digital book of covers.
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SMOG IN THE UK

Large areas of the UK are experiencing high levels of air pollution.

I should've worn my 'smog me' tee by Golf Refugees today around town.
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TIME TO DITCH THE POLYESTER?

The big powerful sportswear brands backed by the even more powerful oil and chemical industry have used their petrochemical dollars to persuade you to wear plastic shirts laced with chemicals.

The future for sportswear does not lie in wearing combinations of untested toxic chemicals next to your sweating skin.

The future for sportswear lies with development of natural fibres, which are sustainable, environmentally friendly and naturally wicking, hence safer for your sweating skin and body. Think of flax and hemp.

Time to ditch and move on from petroleum derived polyester.
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THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION AND NIKE RIP OFF ENGLAND SHIRT

The Football Association (The FA) is to lose £1.6 million of public funding after a sharp fall in the number of players at grassroots level. The FA cited poor weather and increased costs were presenting difficulties to clubs and players.

At first I thought it was an April fool joke when The FA & Nike announced a new England football shirt at £90 each, but apparently its true.

There's always an alternative, Golf Refugees have re-designed the three lions logo, as the original design is heavily protected by The FA. Just stick this on your shirt and save yourself a small fortune.
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FASHION REVOLUTION DAY 24 TH APRIL 2014

Fair-trade pioneers have declared April 24th an annual Fashion Revolution Day - for which people all over the world will be encouraged to wear their clothes inside-out.

"We want people talking about the provenance of clothes, raising awareness of the fact that we aren't just purchasing a garment, but a whole chain of value and relationships. FRD will become a platform for best practice - for brands to show off what they are doing to improve things."

"As consumers, we want people to re-engage with fashion, love the clothes we buy and care about how they are made and by whom."

Golf Refugees hope many sports people including individual golfers, organisers of tournaments, professional players on tour and numerous printed and digital golf media will all support FRD on the 24 th April and wear their sport shirts inside-out.

www.fashionrevolution.org
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NO MORE HIDING

Pic: QR 'lux' polo shirt

Barcodes or QR codes can be printed onto the outside of your clothes, as part of an integrated design, and when scanned using your smart phone reveal detailed information on how your clothes are made.

The QR code becomes the brand, a brand image based upon scrutinised supply chain information and not just a logo and image devised by creative marketing.

What information will our QR code contain?

For example;

Location of source fibre material.

Location of manufacturing facility.

Energy source for manufacturing

Textile workers pay - minimum wage or living wage?

Are unions permitted?

List of chemical ingredients.

Air and water pollution levels from manufacturing.

How to care for your garment?

How to dispose of your garment?

Links to web site and social media.

The primary objective of this information is to try and connect the consumer with how your clothes are made.

There is no need for us to put our brand name and logo on these interactive polo shirts. There is no need for us to hide away any labels on the inside.

All the information you require is on the QR code, which you can view prior and after purchasing.

There should be no more hiding for the fashion/lifestyle/sportswear industry on how your clothes are made.
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