The Story of Bayard Bay
How my wife set out to change golf apparel
The First Thoughts
When I first met my now-wife, I could tell within the first 30-45 minutes that there existed within her a dream to change the way she had experienced golf growing up. It was humble yet determined, and laser focused.
Working in the world of startups, I had quickly met a plethora of people dying to start companies. They were the type to invent or imagine problems in order to justify creating a business. Whether it be the allure of exiting one day or merely calling oneself a “Founder”, these people were obsessed with starting companies.
Even within a short few months or a year, it became evident that this sort of motivation and order events would lead to $0 and the start of the next cycle of inventing problems that didn’t exist to try and start companies around them.
However, with my wife I admired a purity about her approach to solving the issues with golf apparel that her younger self dealt with. It wasn’t and still isn’t about a lofty entrepreneurial target or Linkedln update. I found in her a genuine desire to satisfy her own needs, as well as those who echoed her initial sentiment.
The Journey
Mychael and I began sampling the first Bayard Bay product in November of 2023. We worked simultaneously with manufacturers in China, Pakistan, and the US to understand fabrics, styling, price, and quality. This was an admittedly painful process, and the turnaround time to make small alterations such as pocket size taught us a ton about manufacturing relationships and general apparel manufacturing.
As a simple example, one of the main features of the skirt is the back pocket that houses a yardage book. Traditional suppliers fail to include this pocket at all. We ended up having to do 3-4 samples alone to create the right pocket width, opening, and inner lining. An approach we’re using forward is to ship a yardage book to each manufacturer so that they can test the pocket fit themselves. This move alone cuts down 3-4 weeks of development time per item.
By August, we had successfully paid for and completed a production run of black and white performance skirts, as well as embroidered hats. Mild hurdles, like getting married and honeymooning, delayed the launch until October 2024.
It was surreal to watch Mychael pack and ship orders of a product that she had dreamed about, and to have played a small role in it was a pleasure I won’t forget.
The Future Vision
While Bayard Bay initially launched Direct to Consumer, interesting collabs and larger deals are already seeded. From afar, I imagine the growth of BB emerging in two ways
Organic User Acquisition- As seen in our initial launch and sales, the word of mouth of a female golfer who is disgruntled with the current apparel is strong.
Team Deals- Bayard skirts have already made their way onto the courses of a few college programs within the first two weeks of launch.
These two avenues form a perfect flywheel as Bayard meets with needs of female golfers. Golfers will demand that teams begin to outfit them in Bayard Bay as the functionality and aesthetic wins out, and golfers will then continue to add Bayard items to their wardrobe.
If you’re in the market for golf skirts or embroidered hats, I’d encourage you to check Bayard Bay out.