If there was an award for the most disruptive brand in golf, Malbon Golf would have won it years ago. Founded in Los Angeles in 2017, it has pushed golf fashion from the get-go, asking questions and probing the sport to keep moving forward.
It was thrown into the spotlight in 2024 after Australian golfer and brand ambassador, Jason Day, was asked to remove his vest at The Masters because it was seen to be taking too much attention from the golf itself. “It was no different to if I came over to your house for dinner and you asked me to take my shoes off before I came in. I would just say “yeah, no problem” and we would never talk about it again,” Stephen Malbon, co-founder of Malbon Golf told me over video call last week.
However, the story got over four billion impressions across the internet as traditionalists and newcomers started debating whether the vest – which simply had Malbon written on the front – should be allowed on the course. “It was really fortunate because it did get everyone to know who we are in one week.”
Originally hailing from Virginia Beach, Stephen oozes southern charm – calling me Ma’am throughout – whilst also exuding the relaxed energy of a Californian, as he spoke to me from Malbon’s base in Santa Monica. He is delightfully casual and candid, and if you were to meet him in passing, you would never guess he co-owned a business with stores around the world including the US, China, St Andrews, and soon to be London outside of its current listings in premium department stores, Harrods and Selfridges.
Malbon isn’t the first business venture from Stephen and his wife Erica, who is the co-founder alongside her husband. They previously ran a magazine called Frank151 and then co-founded The Now Massage in LA which they sold after over ten years before moving into the world of golf. That shared entrepreneurial history feels important to understanding Malbon, which is not simply Stephen’s personal vision but a husband-and-wife business shaped by both of them: Stephen leads the men’s collections and much of the storytelling, while Erica leads the womenswear and has helped define the physical brand experience.
Sitting down with Stephen, I was keen to find out more about the brand’s past, present and future.
So Stephen, firstly, what made you start Malbon Golf?
I played golf when I was a kid, but I kind of abandoned it by the time I was 16 because I got a car, and I realised all of my friends wanted to do anything but play golf.
I briefly got back into the sport through caddying whilst putting myself through art school, but I really picked it back up again about 14 years ago.
I would come into my ad agency at 10am wearing my golf clothes and everyone would ask me how I’d played. Because I was playing every day, I didn’t want everyone to know I’d just played, so I would wear Stussy or Ralph Lauren or lifestyle brands instead because at the time, Tiger Woods had influenced this whole workout, dry fit performance clothing as the golf standard. And that wasn’t for me. I would go into a golf superstore with a pocket full of money and I’d leave with a new glove, a dozen balls and no new clothes.
How did you turn your love of golf and fashion into what it is today? Did social media play a part?
Yes Ma’am, I started an Instagram and called it MalbonGolf. I wanted to follow as many Instagram handles as I could to get golf info and I began to use it as a mood board to post old traditional golfers. I had come from a different kind of world of music and fashion and art and graffiti and such, so I would go from traditional golf heritage styles, to pushing it forward with maybe someone who’s wearing a chain wallet golfing, or someone who has tattoos, or a comedian, or an entertainer. So it would bounce back and forth, back and forth, between traditional and futuristic which started to create quite a following.
“Golf’s a great equaliser. We have really been one of the first brands to try to give permission to be who you are and to be proud of who are.”
It was actually my wife, Erica, who suggested we should turn the MalbonGolf Instagram into a business which had around 30,000 followers at the time. And so, we built a pro shop.
Did you have any intention of democratising the sport when you started? How do you break down those barriers?
Golf’s a great equaliser. We have really been one of the first brands to try to give permission to be who you are and to be proud of who are. The green and the golf course doesn’t care how much money you make, who you voted for, what colour you are, if you’re male or female, it doesn’t care about your bank account. Nor does my wife, or I, or our company, or our brand. To really highlight that, we’re doing a campaign which has a slogan that says ‘The green is the common ground’.
But people are uncomfortable in situations that aren’t normal to them and that goes in all walks of life, right? I won’t eat half-cooked chicken breast, but when I go to Japan, all my friends eat seared chicken breast with a raw egg cracked on top of it. That’s crazy to me, but only because I didn’t grow up in Japan eating that my whole life.
So, it’s a conditioning thing and it’s the same in golf. But really, we’re all human and that’s the most important thing.
Watching golf, you know straight away when a player is wearing Malbon because it’s so distinctive. How do you go about designing the clothes?
I do the men’s and my wife does the women’s, and then we have an insane staff of very talented technical designers and production people for the whole line. We both work really, really closely on the first 15% or so which is the inspiration, the mood, the direction, the colour story, the visual centres, the graphics, the line plan. Then we kind of abandon it until the end, when we get very engaged with the content, photo shoots, narrative and storytelling. We’re able to work on a lot of projects at once because we don’t get involved with the fitting and fabrications as much as your traditional designer would.
What does that creative process look like?
We kind of design backwards, like a movie. So, in the film that I see in my brain, I know I need locations and models and wardrobe for those models or actors. And then that’s how I come up with the line plan. So, we just did a golf and yacht collection. The dream was me and my family going around Europe playing golf courses, eating in restaurants and hanging out on a yacht, so I knew I needed linen suits, passport holders and Boston bags. The linen suit was a must because of the dream, not because it’s something that’s trending right now.
“I don’t think this is work – it’s just play.”
Does working in this way stop you from getting caught up in trends and being pigeonholed into one thing?
Totally. Malbon is a lifestyle brand inspired by golf, but a lot of people who wear it don’t play golf, or those who do aren’t only playing golf. When I go on vacation with my family I’m doing lots of things – boating, sailing, going to the beach and the cabana and the pool, going to work out, going to do yoga, going to the sauna. Of course, I’m also going to play golf because I’m addicted to it but we’re not a golf brand, right? It’s more resort sports. We’re doing tennis and golf, but we also do running and performance. I see it as similar to Ralph Lauren where you’ll know loads of people that have worn the brand and never actually been sailing.
Speaking to you, I get the feeling that you and Erica are having a lot of fun with Malbon.
I don’t think this is work – it’s just play. My wife and I don’t think we have competition other than ourselves, so the only thing we have to do is stay inspired, travel and build a strong team who can let us do what we’re really, really good at.
And how did you decide on how to build that team at the top level to support your vision?
We hired our CEO, Aaron Heiser, from Nike. When he came in, he was asking us questions and putting into perspective, how a brand of our size culturally is ten times bigger than the reality of our sales. The collaborations we were doing and the perception of the brand was way bigger than the reality of how big the business is. My wife and I don’t have that background, but his background is in international distribution and merchandise, so he’s a product guy. He loves products, loves merchandising, and he loves international distribution. He took Nike to China, so has very much filled the holes of the stuff that my wife and I don’t know based off of our history and our background.
“We were playing golf without a caddy before. Now we have a caddy who can help us to understand and do a little better.”
We also brought in Rebecca Jury, who came from Nike as well as our Chief Product Officer and together they are making sure that firstly, we can make the best products and secondly, that we have enough product to supply the demand. We’re a family run business and it’s very, very exciting and fun, but I think of it like we were playing golf without a caddy before. Now we have a caddy who can help us to understand and do a little better.
Where are you hoping to take the brand next?
I didn’t start the company with a business plan and we didn’t set any expectations. Our mission was originally to make golf cool for young people, but we achieved that much quicker than we expected so now we’re just seeing what else we can do. We’re going into tennis and we’re looking into more homes and hotels, resorts – all that type of stuff. We’re also exploring extensions like eyewear, skincare and different things that we actually need in our daily life. But fundamentally, the expectations are to have fun, stay in the golf world and get the most out of every day that we can.
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Quickfire Questions
If you had a favourite film, what would it be?
The Godfather.
Who’s the greatest golfer who ever lived?
It has to be Tiger Woods because of how dominant he was.
What would you like your legacy to be?
For my grandkids to tell their grandkids and so on, that I was kind and nice and inspiring and caring. And not judgy. I love those things.
Who is your hero?
My sons, Luciano who’s 16 and Remington who’s 14. They help me daily. I feel like I learn more from them than I can teach them. They’re free, not overthinking and are inspired and excited to live.
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