FIELDREPORT
Fabric Engineering
Ping Apparel’s first in-house Autumn/Winter collection echoes the technology and innovation of their hardware. Giles Birkhead, director of sales for Europe, explains the brand’s vision for aligning style and performance
play’ captures the brand’s mission to imbue their clothing with the same attributes of innovation and technology we‘ve come to expect from their hardware. That goal was created the moment they
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ended Ping Collection’s 10-year licensing arrangement in December 2013. The link was forged – that should probably read cast – with the brand’s first European in-house apparel range, SS15. Garments featured a new Eyemark logo, dot colour-coded to reprise the lie angle markings of the old Eye II irons, with red, blue and white representing the three technical Sensor platforms of Warm, Dry and Cool. Product was taken subtly but firmly upmarket, with cotton blends replacing polyester and heat transfers replaced by woven labels. But while SS15 showed clear signs of a cleaner,
more contemporary direction, winter offers much greater scope for the technical performance garments you sense the brand been itching to create. It’s an opportunity they haven’t passed up. “Arguably the best example of the new range
is the Tour Eye suit,” says Giles Birkhead, director of sales for Europe. “It’s the first time that,
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t’s no coincidence the strapline for Ping Apparel’s Autumn/Winter 2015 range could equally apply to their clubs. ‘Engineered to
as a brand, we’ve teamed up with a recognised fabric supplier. Pertex is an established outerwear fabric innovator, though perhaps not so well-known in golf. But they have created a fabric that’s light and quiet, offers great stretch and breathable properties and allows us to move into areas of moisture management we‘ve never been before.” Indeed Pertex achieves an impressive waterproofness rating of 20,000mm. Designed with input from 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, Tour Eye will retail for £350 (£200 jacket, £150 trouser). It’s been created through what Ping call Zonal Design Application – woven fabric on the body for durability and a better finish, and knitted sleeves to create more stretch. Vented areas in the back and leſt chest aid air movement. Tour Eye is available as
both a full and half-zip jacket, in contemporary and sophisticated blacks and greys, with the half-
zip adding a splash of mulberry. As with much of the range, it comes with a three-year waterproof warranty. Pertex also features in two other garments.
The extremely light Zero Gravity is available both as a long-sleeved half-zip top and a half-zip lightweight waterproof vest, almost like a gilet. “Zero Gravity features the same waterproofness and breathability as the Tour Eye suit and is made from a lightweight quiet stretch fabric, is
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