Steeped In Streetwear, Students Golf Majors In Fairway Fashion

During a break in a sales meeting with a large group of international distributors, Publish Brand founder and CEO Michael Huynh fell to the floor and suffered a seizure precipitating a pair of back-to-back stints in the ER over the next 72 hours. Diagnosed with acute hypertension, the sidelined streetwear impresario realized maybe it was time to step away from the day-to-day stresses of managing a thriving L.A. based fashion business.

“My doctor goes ‘you better pause, you better take a break, otherwise this is going to kill you.’ So, I took a hiatus to get my mental health together,” Huynh, who remains the majority shareholder, says of his decision to hand the reigns of Publish over to his business partner.

His physician suggested he take up golf as a way to relax his mind. Huynh wasn’t immediately sold on the idea. His exposure to the game was limited to television broadcasts he caught while channel surfing and his perception was that the game was just too slow and dull. But when an opportunity to play in a charity event with one of his lawyers presented itself, he decided to give it a shot. Huynh was absolutely awful but all it took was launching one purely struck ball down the middle of the fairway to realize what all the fuss was about. From that moment on, he was a man on a mission to get better.

“I didn’t know that a lot of my fashion peers played golf. They were just in the closet about it because they sucked. Now I’m inviting them out. I’m a member of three country clubs—Old Ranch, Mesa Verde and Alta Vista, and I take care of their fees so there is no reason for them not to show up. The circle keeps getting bigger,” he says

Huynh came up in apparel design as a creator in the late 1990s, freelancing for Phat Farm and Jay-Z’s Rocawear before striking out on his own with Publish in 2009. The brand hit paydirt with their jogger pant, selling upwards of four million pairs of the twill sweats with a striking silhouette and a cinched cuff.

It was Russell Westbrook who would eventually coax Huynh back into the streetwear game after he stepped away from operations at Publish. The nine-time NBA all-star tapped Huynh to spearhead brand management of his clothing line, Honor the Gift. Huyhn handpicked his own team and enjoyed the challenges of shepherding the company’s trajectory, but after six years in the role and nearing 40, he felt it was time to concentrate on his own creative impulses.

“I want to do something where I feel I can make a mark in an industry that could use creatives like myself. I wanted it to encompass a hobby I had found and now wholeheartedly love and that I’m addicted to,” he explains. So, Huynh paired his twin passions of golf and streetwear to launch Students Golf.

Off the tee, the brand has released collections of graphic tees, pullovers and hoodies aimed at golfers looking to showcase their fealty to the sport off the course. But the plan is to release polos and more technical on-course apparel later this year once Students has found its footing.

“To me, to start with on-course stuff just didn’t seem natural. I think that space is somewhat crowded and it’s very hard to distinguish yourself. If you were to take a striped Travis Matthew polo along with one from Adidas or Nike and take off the logo, it basically all looks the same,” Huynh explains.

When dyed in the wool golfers walk their dogs or grocery shop, they often don a cap that lets others know they are part of the tribe that enjoys getting up early in the morning to chase a dimpled ball down manicured grass.

“I get stoked when I’m at a restaurant or another place and I see another golfer, it’s like we are speaking the same language. But these same guys are limited in what they’re wearing—it’s either a polo or a hat—so for me that is a huge opportunity. You don’t have to be in a polo or wear a Callaway hat in order to be a golfer. Why not wear a t-shirt that says golf without having to say it,” Huynh adds.

The brand is establishing a brazen and cheeky sensibility with shirts depicting bald eagles clutching golf balls in their talons or another with golf grip graphics and the slogan ‘Students Dept. of Swing Corrections.’ The messaging in designs often pokes fun at the emotional tumult many golfers go through as they’re learning the game. Huynh confesses that he has been listening to a lot of emotionally confessional playlists lately name-dropping Ginuwine, Barry White and Barry Manilow. That could explain why there is also a shirt in the new collection aimed squarely at abandoned golf spouses featuring a bouquet of cut up clubs and an apologetic note.

Leveraging the long-term relationships Huynh built during his tenures helming Publish and Honor the Gift, retailers have been receptive to the new brand. Students is currently carried in over 75 retail accounts, including streetwear stores that typically stock basketball and soccer influenced brands. They are also currently available in ten Nordstrom locations domestically as a test.

“We are on a trajectory to grow to up to 120-150 doors this year. I have a pretty good plan in terms of what my golf, green grass and club distribution landscape looks like and I’m very excited for it,” Huynh says.

The success of golf lifestyle brands like Malbon and Bad Birdie have also increased consumer appetite for designer-driven apparel that tends to have a more irreverent take on fairway fashion.

“I feel like golf could use more DIY designers, more streetwear designers and more high-end fashion designers in the space. You’ll start to see golf evolve a lot over the next year. I’m seeing a lot of emerging brands and that’s so cool. I love the competition. I think it makes us better as a brand,” he adds.