SAN FRANCISCO, CA (SEPTEMBER 5, 2007) — One of the originators of luxury performance golf apparel, Iconicâ?¢ Sport, continues its ongoing series of sales, charity, and innovative promotional efforts, with its first ever appearance in Las Vegas. "We want to expose the line to a new set of buyers here on the West coast that don’t normally go to the Orlando show," said Iconicâ?¢ Sport Founder and Designer, Leslie Chow.
On the heels of a highly successful second showing at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando last January, and an assortment of spring/ summer regional and local personal appearances by Chow, Iconic now ups the ante, with the unveiling of new styles, new color ways, and new prints to be shown at the PGA Fall Expo, Sept. 10-12, 2007, in Booth #261 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Convention Center in Las Vegas.
A former aerospace engineer, Chow was one of the pioneers in bringing the combination of high tech and performance enhancement to high fashion women’s golf apparel. "This is what separates Iconic from other high-end golf apparel lines," she explained. "Iconic is the only stylish high-end line that’s also ALL technical. There are a number of brands with "juniory" lines, and people who have "fashiony" and lifestyle lines, but they’re not necessarily focused on the technical, and not focused on golf specific features and functionality." She adds that Iconic is not intended for everyone, it’s targeted at a certain type of consumer — upscale, athletic, and highly fashion conscious.
"Iconic has a basic palette of colors that work all the time, like classic black, white, tonal grays, and navy” explained Chow. "We keep those colors and freshen them up with coordinating prints, that are fun, retro, and interesting, as well as some seasonal colors like our jewel tones, berry and periwinkle, that compliment our basics and mix-and match with the prints,"
Latest additions to the Iconic collection include two new shirt styles, the Turnberry twist, and the Olympia boat-neck cowl. The latter is a gently draped bateau cowl with cap sleeves, trimmed in a luxurious brushed-knit inside face. The Turnberry is also a gracefully draped, set-in boat-neck, with cap sleeves, and an additional compelling but gentle, figure-flattering twist.
They’re joined by a new plus size range of 18-22 in two of the more popular existing Iconic styles, as well as the first inclusion of two men’s shirts to the line; a polo and a banded collar. Also new, are sunscreen arm-sleeves. "Sunscreen sleeves are very popular in Asia, it’s not a new concept," said Chow. "But the common Asian sleeves aren’t necessarily technical the way these are, which were developed with a similar concept to our arm warmers, but in a lighter weight, with wicking, breathability, and UV protection."
Also new to the line is the addition of color blocking, new colors, and fresh prints in a number of the existing Iconic body styles. Iconicâ?¢ Sport has also recently been approved as a Swiss+Cotton® trademark licensee. "It doesn’t change anything that we’re doing, we’ve been using Swiss cotton in our line but we haven’t leveraged the marketing aspects of it," said Chow. "We’ve said that we use Schoeller fabrics, which we are, and which are Swiss — the Swiss +Cotton® licensee designation certifies that the cotton blends that we use in all of our woven bottoms are produced in line with very stringent Swiss quality standards using at least 75% extra-long staple Swiss cotton, which some argue is the world’s finest cotton."
Retail success has been reported on both coasts, as well as from Hawaii, where Jason Bangild, Director of Golf at the prestigious Nanea Golf Club, was one of the first to re-order Iconic goods. "We tried a small order in our shop and it cleaned out quickly. We re- ordered the bodies that did well, and tried some new patterns and prints. Again, they flew off the shelves," exclaimed Bangild. "When I can offer the highest quality goods in terms of technical performance, and couple that with unique fashion forward styling, it makes my job very easy."
For attendees at the PGA Fall Expo in Las Vegas next week, Iconicâ?¢ Sport could be one of the best bets in town!
About Iconicâ?¢ Sport:
Once referred to by a noted Silicon Valley recruiter, as "the coolest woman in The Valley," Leslie Chow, founded and designs Iconicâ?¢ Sport with the expressed intent of combining elements of both high fashion and enriched performance. A former engineer at NASA, Chow has created a high fashion statement, with functional design elements specifically intended for the serious player.
She has targeted Iconic at upscale women golfers, emphasizing sophisticated style and golf performance enhancement. Iconic garments incorporate elements from both her engineering background and a life long affinity for fashion. With degrees from both MIT and Stanford, she is an avid multi-sport athlete, and was featured in the "Member Spotlight" segment of the 2007 Bluebook edition of the Northern California Golf Association’s magazine, NCGA Golf.
Based and manufactured entirely in San Francisco, Iconicâ?¢ Sport is directed toward the affluent, fashion conscious, female athlete, who desires something special in her choice of golf wear. The line incorporates golf-specific design elements as well as high-tech fabrications in unique combinations of print and solid garments.
Iconicâ?¢ Sport is now actively looking for sales reps for several territories.
Contact:
Barry Salberg
(650) 573-7500
salberg@mindspring.com
President/Designer
Leslie Chow
(415) 861-3603
lchow@iconicsport.com
IconicÌ¢?å¢ Sport Inc.
40 Yukon Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
www.iconicsport.com
