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Combining her passions of golf,business and fashion, JenniferGlaspie started Aphira in 2005.

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A Course in High FashionA strong sense of entrepreneurship is helping Aphira make a go of it in the competitive world of women’s golf apparel.By Mary Fons

Where was her sense of style?“I was disappointed by the lack of fashionable golf

apparel choices for women,” says Glaspie, president andfounder of Aphira, a Chicago-based firm specializing indesigner women’s golf wear. Glaspie says that before shelaunched Aphira in January 2005, pickings were slim forwomen who wanted to play golf and at the same time exhibit a sense of style.

“It seemed like traditional golf brands made women’sshirts by taking a man’s polo shirt and making it smaller andpink,” she says with a wry smile. “I wasn’t alone; most of thefemale golfers I surveyed or interviewed also felt that golfapparel for women was outdated.”

Born in a small town in Michigan, the 32-year-old Glaspieearned her MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School ofManagement and worked for five years as a managementconsultant at Bain & Company.

She says she started playing golf more than 10 years ago.“I started because of my husband,” she says with a laugh. “Hetold me he was going to have a terrible summer if I didn’tlearn how to play.”

But golf wasn’t the couple’s only interest; she and her hus-band both had their eyes on entrepenurial pursuits. “We wereboth working as consultants at the time and decided that oneof us should break out, take a risk and start a company. I’mthe lucky one who got to do that and my husband kept work-ing his job so we could self-finance the initial launch.”

The inspiration for Aphira came when the stylish Glaspiethought back to that day on the golf course. “This under-served market opportunity,” she recalled, “was a perfect inter-

section of my pas-sions in business,golf and fashion.”

Glaspie createda business planand Aphira wasborn.

Blending whatshe considered tobe flattering cutswith bold, brightcolors and patterns,she launched Aphira, a line that boasts it is “inspired by the runway” and “adapted bythe fairway.”

“The Aphira line is trendy,” says Marianne Saso, buyer forthe golf shop at Butterfield Country Club in Oak Brook, Ill.“We get lots of younger members that come in looking forclothing that’s a cut above. These clothes have a great fit andthe designs are cute.”

And for players who wonder if the apparel they’re about tobuy is made by children in a sweatshop in a far-off land, that’snot the case. “All of our clothes are manufactured in Chicago,”says Glaspie. “People think it’s crazy, but at this stage, it’s theonly way to go. When you manufacture overseas, you give upso much quality control. It’s expensive to do it here, but I con-sider it an investment in customer service.”

Trying to compete in the sports apparel world with retailtitans such as Nike, adidas and specialty labels like Callawaydominating the market is a formidable challenge. Glaspie is

When Jennifer Glaspie looked around the fairway in 2004, she remembersfeeling as though something was missing. Sure, she had all her clubs andher golf bag. There was a mile of green in everydirection and plenty of sunshine, but . . .

• Immaculately conditioned bent grass greens, tees and fairways

• Sculptured bunkers

• Numerous lakes and stone laden creeks

• Global Positioning System(GPS)

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• World-class driving range with five target greens

• Beautiful pro shop stocked with University of Illinois apparel

• Home course of the U of I golf teams

• Five-Star Restaurant (Kennedy’s at Stone Creek)

• Play and Stay programs available

CHICAGO D ISTR ICT GOLFER36

37MAY/JUNE 2007

the first to admit that launching an independent golf clothingline isn’t for the faint of heart.

“To be honest, it is a little scary,” laughs Glaspie. “I’ll never forget going to our first PGA Merchandise Show in 2005. We had rented the smallest booth available. It was essentially a 10-by-10-foot piece of cement. Our fixtures weredelivered on one pallet and our samples fit in one suitcase. Iremember seeing the Nike booth. It was big and beautiful andlooked like a freestanding retail store. I had this ‘Oh-my-gosh,are-we-crazy?’ moment.”

But Glaspie’s training in business kicked in to remind herthat success, even for companies like Nike, doesn’t happenovernight.

“Everyone starts somewhere,” she points out. Glaspie alsonotes that, in the end, seeing the glittering Nike booth was actually more inspirational than intimidating.

“Starting a company is certainly a humbling experience,” she says, “but it’s inspiring to look at other successful entrepreneurs and realize that they have gone through the same growing pains.”

And Aphira certainly is growing. In the company’s first days,the firm was made up of Glaspie and one other employee, in-house designer Kathy Clark. They’ve since added another

employee that Glaspie calls “the athlete” for her ability to dowhatever needs to be accomplished. These three women spendpart of their time in a downtown Chicago office, which, at 800square feet, Glaspie calls “cozy and casual.” When they’re not inthe office they’re flying around the country, visiting new andexisting clients, presenting at conventions and calling on potential buyers. The Chicago headquarters do not contain all ofAphira, of course. Sales reps across the country have showroomsand offices that display Clark’s designs and, with 100 locationsfrom California to New York, Aphira apparel is available in majormarkets from coast to coast.

Whether the company’s main offices will expand remains tobe seen, but if the numbers foretell anything, Aphira’s going toneed more space (and more employees) before long.

“Our first year,” says Glaspie, “was all about getting our nameout there and creating relationships. Our product was in only 20stores or so, but those stores did very well with the line. 2005was a great year, and by 2006, we had increased revenue by 500percent. We’re on track to double that for 2007.”

With dedicated sales reps, a hot concept and a “Made in theUSA” label, Aphira is in the process of building an even brighterfuture. But with huge companies crowding the selling floor,independent entrepreneurs like Glaspie have to develop a water-tight strategy in order to get noticed. Glaspie says the best wayshe’s found to compete against the heavy hitters is to createword-of-mouth momentum by heaping attention and customerservice on each and every account her company acquires.

“With our new accounts, I personally spend time with themto understand their customer base and work with them to puttogether an assortment of product that is a good fit for theirclientele,” she says.

In this way, Glaspie feels that she’s at an advantage. “Youdon’t get that same high-touch service from larger companies.”

Getting her product into the hands of new consumers meanskeeping a close eye on their niche market. “We certainly can’toutadvertise the large companies,” she concedes, “so we’re staying maniacally focused on creating great product and gettingit in front of the right buyers.”

For Aphira, this means knowing its clientele and marketingdirectly to them. The majority of the retailers that carry theAphira line are within pro shops in private country clubs. “Wedo also have some off-course boutiques in upscale areas that dovery well,” says Glaspie, noting that Aphira’s demographic istough to pin down. “We have women in their 20s and womenin their 60s that wear Aphira. It’s hard to describe our customerin standard demographics. It’s more of a lifestyle description.”

Saso agrees, saying that she knows firsthand about the rangeof the Aphira customer. “It’s not strictly a golfwear line. Theclothes are versatile,” she says. “Some women buy the Aphirapieces to wear to lunch. And there's no age limit on the clothes,really. Anyone can wear this stuff, even though it’s sort of non-traditional, more up-and-coming.”

Saso says that even though Aphira doesn’t have a menswearline, some of her customers are male—sort of. “We get gentlemencoming in to shop for gifts for their wives.”

Glaspie says the one advantage a small firm such as Aphira can giveclients is top-notch customer service.

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Glaspie notes that being able to give a higher level of cus-tomer service is just one of the reasons she often feels luckyto be the little guy. “Because we are smaller, we have morefreedom,” she says. “A big company has to design for the

masses, whereas our customer wants something different. Wecan be more creative and more daring with our designs.”

The innovative, stylish designs and the dedication to custom-fit customer service is proving to be an effectiveapproach. Glaspie says one of her biggest challenges isn’t getting outlets for her product, but getting adequate sales repsto get the product to the buyers.

“We have a very high percentage of buyers that bring us into their shops,” she says. “We just need more feet on the ground.”

As Aphira has grown, Glaspie says she’s gotten plenty ofoutside input from people who think she should expand hervision.

“In just the first few months, I had people suggesting I expand into yoga clothing, men’s golf apparel, women’s golfshoes, etcetera,” she says. “These other opportunities can be very tempting, but an entrepreneur has to realize that any new segment is going to consume resources—both timeand money.”

Aphira is building its success by staying focused on itsoriginal niche. And what’s satisfying to Glaspie is, now thatniche has a sense of style to it.

Mary Fons is a freelance writer based in Chicago.

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Glaspie founded the company in 2005 and shortly thereafter added designer Kathy Clark (left) to the Aphira team.

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