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Ogio International has earned its reputation in the marketplace for durable and edgy – or “adrenalin-driven,” as the company says – styles of bags, apparel and accessories. Its product is as likely to be found on the golf course as on motocross tracks, in boardrooms and airports. In January, Ogio Golf announced the launch of a footwear line with four models that are scheduled to be in stores on May 15. Tom Gocke, global vice president of Ogio Golf, recently spent 10 minutes talking with The Golf Wire’s Stuart Hall on the company’s newest foray into the apparel market.
Q.: What was the impetus for Ogio getting into the shoe market?
GOCKE: Good question. We have a couple of things that drive us on our long-term vision, and they have been in place for many years. We’re not interested in getting into the hard goods business. What we want is that from head to toe, anything you carry, anything you wear, Ogio will provide it for you.
So shoes were certainly the next evolution or line as we move from what you carry and what you wear on your back to what you wear on your feet.
Q.: Did Ogio ever consider acquiring another brand?
GOCKE: We did and we looked around. I [was director of golf at Bite Footwear back] in the late 1990s up to the mid-2000s before I moved to Ogio [in June 2005], so I have a footwear background. I had contacts, I had knowledge, and we did look and meet with a couple of small shoe companies, but we just didn’t feel the style was right or the situation was right at the time. With the contacts we had it was just so easy for us to do it ourselves.
And our DNA is so specific to us that it just felt like we had a stronger position in the market than some of the companies we were looking at acquiring, so we thought it would be just as healthy to do it under Ogio.
Q.: You talk about your DNA, which has always been cutting edge, but what technologies is Ogio using that is either new for the shoe or adapted from other lines, such as the backpacks or golf bags?
GOCKE: First and foremost we look at style and fashion. So we wanted to make sure the shoes looked like Ogio. We tend not to be traditional. We tend to be, what we call, adrenaline inspired in our designs. It is something that can have some flavor of a traditional look, but it is done in a little more of an adrenalin way. So that is where we start.
The second thing is the technology story. Our shoes have what we call Synkfit technology, which is a special footbed built inside the shoe that allows your foot to sink into its own imprint when you slide it into the shoe.
Most shoe companies are doing a fantastic job of stabilizing your contact to the ground. The second piece of keeping you stable is controlling the movement of your foot inside the shoe. A whole history of footwear companies have tried to stabilize the movement of your foot by making a narrow toe up at the front, and it kind of pinches your toes together and it keeps your foot from moving around from side to side.
We believe that in the golf swing you don’t want to pinch your toes together. We want the foot sitting in its most natural position to give you the maximum balance during the swing. To do that, we need a little wider toe box so your foot sits in its natural position. How we keep the foot from moving around is we attack it from the bottom up. When you sink down into your own imprint, the footbed, all of a sudden your lateral movement from side to side is eliminated. So rather than pinch from the top, we have you sink into your imprint on the bottom and keep your foot from moving.
Q.: In the past few years, a number of brands have come online with golf shoe offerings. What type of market share is Ogio looking for?
GOCKE: We’re organic to the golf industry, and we see New Balance coming into the market and Skechers even has some shoes now for golf, and there are footwear companies trying to come into the golf industry.
We’re a core golf industry company trying to expand our presence in the golf industry, so we’ve already got the accounts, we’ve already got the space on the floor and we’re already in several categories from towels to bags to clothes to travel gear. Since we already have that presence inside the store, it’s not as much of a building block for us to try and build new distribution in golf, it’s just allowing us to offer more to our existing partners out there.
Q.: Each of the four footwear models is unique, how did you settle upon the four?
GOCKE: First, we sat down and looked at the golf market and asked “OK, what are the different personalities of golfers, if we could generalize?”
We looked and said there is a conservative traditional golfer out there and there is the guy who plays maybe six to 10 times a year and is more of an urban lifestyle guy looking to come over into golf and enjoys the game once in a while. Then there is the athletic guy who likes to play golf. All those married back into Ogio’s heritage in that we have a golf business unit, we have a lifestyle business unit, and we have an endurance presence … where we are the official gear bag and we’re making clothing for the Ironman competitions and triathletes.
So not only did we recognize it from the golf market coming back to us, but then we looked internally going out to the golf market. We had three specific areas that we could represent. And so those two concepts just married together and it felt right.
We have the Race shoe, which is minimalistic in its look and design and has the most premium leathers you can find. It’s a super conservative look and a real comfort performance story there with the Synkfit. In the middle is our urban- or lifestyle-inspired shoe – the City Spiked and City Turf. The City has the same upper and comes in two different outsoles. One is spiked for the guy committed to wearing soft spikes on the course and the other has such a lifestyle look that you can wear it on the golf course in its spikeless version – or what we have termed as Permaspykes – and that is a traction bottom that works for golf, but it also works for the sidewalk or the carpet in your office. The last is our Sport, which is our lightweight, athletic, breathable shoe that is very sporty looking in its design and is inspired by our endurance runners.
Q.: Aside from shoes, what do you envision the next area that will really move the needle as company’s continue to fight for their share of the pie?
GOCKE: Good question. I wish I had a crystal ball.
I think we’re taking a look at undergarment performance. I think that’s something that is out there. Do I think it’s a needle mover, I’m not sure, but I think it’s part of the package.
I think there is going to be some big movement in the look … if you notice what has happened in headwear, if you notice what’s happened in polos over the last 15 or 20 years, if you look at what’s happened at pants, moving from Sansabelt to cotton Dockers to pleated to now the flat front and performance materials. I think footwear is the next evolution of bringing it into the 21st century. I think a lot of the approaches and a lot of the looks are still stuck back 20 years in traditional saddles and even the approach to how the footwear is being built.
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