| In Conversation With: Mark Fletcher |
Page 1 of 2  Mark Fletcher Has Helped Carry On The Success And Growth Of The Family Apparel Business In Style Mark Of Excellence – A Conversation With Fletcher Leisure Group President Mark Fletcher Inside Golf recently had an opportunity to talk with Mark Fletcher, President of the largest privately owned supplier of golf equipment and apparel in Canada, the Fletcher Leisure Group. Mark Fletcher’s Father founded the company over 40 years ago on the basis of golf club repair which evolved into distribution of brand name equipment and eventually to the management and ownership of many of those well know brands. A graduate of Queens University in 1993, Mark Fletcher came on board and has seen the company grow to where it is today as one of the most successful Canadian companies in the golf equipment and apparel industry. Mark’s sister Christine, who lives in Vancouver, manages the corporate side of things including sales of the Sunice brand which has been granted a coveted license for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games upcoming next year. Based out of Montreal, Fletcher Leisure Group Inc. also has offices in Mississauga, Ontario and of course showrooms in various locations across Canada. Inside Golf: What was your role when you first started in the company? Mark Fletcher: At the time when I initially came on board I got involved with customer service and embroidery and then became more involved with operations in general. Such as IT, putting in a new computer system and then over time became more involved with product, sales and marketing and then general administration.  Aureus And Aurea Are Now Under The Main Brand Name Of AUR MF: We basically run wholly owned subsidiaries for Ashworth and Callaway Golf Apparel, which has been run through Ashworth. We own the AUR brand, formerly Aureus and Aurea – those names still have a presence but AUR is the main brand that we feature in the retail marketplace. We also own Sunice which is sold in 28 countries around the world. And what we’re very excited about is that we have a license to sell a number of products for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. IG: Becoming an official supplier to the Olympics is no easy feat in itself. How did that come about? MF: I think the fact that we are a Canadian brand with a heritage that has been associated with the Olympics, back at the ’88 Games and even prior to that, has certainly helped us with these games being in Canada. Also the fact that we have an entire design and development operation here, in Montreal, so that we can be very responsive to the needs of consumers here in the country. And we do have a history and an association with a variety of sporting events including Formula One for many years, and PGA Tour events…we just have a fairly comprehensive history of being involved in merchandise needs as it relates to sporting events. IG: There has been a tremendous change and growth in the actual technology as well as design of clothing in sports over the years, what can you tell us about that evolvement? MF: Fashion moves in certain cycles and textile science has developed over time and the term ‘performance fabrics’ means something different today than it maybe meant 5 years ago.  AUR Shirts Featuring 'Nanobon' Technology Use Bamboo Carbon And Polyester In A Special Spinning Method For Greater Odor And Humidity Control. IG: Do you have your own research and development people within your company? MF: We do R&D on both the AUR side and the Sunice side of our business brands. We take the ideas of what we know are the latest developments and innovations in textile development and perhaps make them more applicable for use within the golf market. That relates to the weight, ‘wickability’, transparency and even odor management. One of the early tendencies of polyester was for it to absorb a lot of bacteria, which really caused severe odor problems. You don’t want your golf shirt to smell like a hockey bag. IG: To that end, what can you tell us about the ‘environmentally-friendly’ new line in the AUR brand? MF: One of the ‘trends’ as we talk about fabrics evolving that is a very important focus for us within the AUR brand is something that we’re addressing in a new category called the AWARE category, which is essentially all of our environmentally sensitive textiles and fabrics. There’s the bamboo, recycled polyesters… there’s a number of different ways that you can be more environmentally conscious on the fabric front and we’ve got a considerable amount of styles in our collection within this AWARE category. Going through our booking season this is something that was very well received by our customers, by the trade, and I think this is something that’s going to translate very well at the consumer level. The standard that we’ve kept in mind as we’ve developed this AWARE collection is that consumers won’t necessarily go out of their way to buy something that is environmentally friendly but if they can find a product and design that they are pleased with from an aesthetic perspective and a performance perspective in terms of easy care, moisture wicking and so on and if it’s also an environmentally friendly fabric then that is something that they will be drawn to. As much as it’s an important trend, still fewer than 10% of consumers in North America will go out of their way to buy something that is environmentally-friendly. So we’ve been conscious of the fact that the golf market might not be the early adopter for all of those trends. Some of the early ‘hand feels’ that were environmentally friendly were not very appropriate for golf so this is something that we’re addressing in a way that we think is perfect for golf. |
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