Field Notes

Imperial, the #1 golf headwear brand in the combined on and off course retail channels as recently reported by Golf Datatech and voted #1 headwear brand by the Association of Golf Merchandisers (AGM), announced today the acquisition of J.T. Spencer, an American belt manufacturer based in Richmond, Virginia. J.T. Spencer is the official belt licensee of Peter Millar and operates Peter Millar’s custom logo green grass belt program. Imperial also reported the extension of the belt license with Peter Millar to add to its existing T-shirt license with Peter Millar. Going forward Imperial will continue offering custom logo embroidered and ChromaCrown Peter Millar belts and accessories, as well as custom logo Peter Millar T-shirts, through Peter Millar sales representatives. “Peter Millar has had a great relationship over the years with both Imperial and J.T. Spencer. We are very excited our partners have joined forces and look forward to growing our licensed goods with Imperial and their team.” Todd Martin, President of Peter Millar Golf There will be no immediate changes to the operations of J.T. Spencer. All manufacturing and distribution will remain in operation out of its current facility in Richmond, Virginia. Imperial is headquartered in Bourbon, Missouri, and owns factories in the cities of Sullivan, Winona, Ellington, Park Hills and Bonne Terre. “When we started J.T. Spencer eight years ago, I could not have imagined the successful journey we would have in the golf world, and joining the Imperial family is just the next step in continuing our incredible growth trajectory. We love that we will be continuing to work with Peter Millar on their custom belt and accessories program and are thrilled at the opportunity to build the Peter Millar licensed T-shirt program Imperial has started.” Steve DeWalle, President of J.T. Spencer DeWalle and his partner, Spens Woodroof, will be staying on with Imperial post-acquisition to manage the transition and the Peter Millar licensed businesses going forward. “J.T. Spencer makes the best belts in the game. I have been observing their business growing rapidly over the past few years due to extremely hard working people, quality products made right here in the United States, and a strong association with the Peter Millar brand. We are very excited to streamline Peter Millar’s industry leading belts with our Peter Millar T-shirt program and have Steve DeWalle leading the charge for us.” David Shaffer, Senior Vice President of Sales at Imperial Imperial’s parent company, Paramount Apparel International, was also recently acquired at the end of 2021 by CPC, whose mantra is “Buy, Build, Hold.” CPC was formed by the partners of Curran Companies and C3 Capital with the shared vision of becoming world class partners for great companies. CPC is a company, not a traditional private equity fund, that seeks to make long-term investments and grow businesses over decades, not years. “Paramount is extremely proud of Imperial and now the acquisition of J.T. Spencer. The synergies J.T. Spencer has with Peter Millar only strengthen our relationship with them too. The combination of our manufacturing capabilities coupled with the Peter Millar brand position us well for expansion. We are looking forward to a bright future and longstanding partnership with Peter Millar.” Todd Johnson, CEO of Paramount Apparel International About J.T. Spencer Founded in 2014, J.T. Spencer is a belt and accessories manufacturer, and an official licensee of Peter Millar. Through their relationship with Peter Millar, J.T. Spencer’s products can be found in 85 of the Top 100 Golf courses in the United States, at colleges and university bookstores across the country and golf shops in the United Kingdom, Asia, Canada and South Africa. J.T. Spencer is based in Richmond Virginia. For further information, please visit JTSpencer.com.

There’s no doubt you have many options when it comes to choosing a golf hat, but when you’re looking to switch up your style and you want a vintage look, it’s time to consider a golf rope hat. Unlike a typical performance cap or baseball cap look, the golf rope hat features a braided piece of rope on the bill of the hat. This added detail has graced golf hats for decades and is frequently associated with a mid-century golf look. There are many vintage rope hats out there, including vintage styles from Imperial. But if you want to sport a vintage look without looking for a second-hand option, never fear. Not only does Imperial have tons of brand new rope hats available in a wide variety of colors and icons, there are also blank rope hats you can purchase and customize. Here are some of the many reasons why the golf rope hat will never go out of style. History of Imperial’s Golf Rope Hat As with the history of most golf hats, the rope hat developed out of the sun visor worn on baseball diamonds that eventually turned into the brimmed, full coverage baseball cap we know and love today. At some point when golfers adopted the style, they added rope as an extra embellishment on the hat’s brim. This hat style is often associated with golf of the 1950s and 1970s. You can get an idea of Imperial’s golf rope hat offerings in the 1950s from this advertisement of the Imperial Lady Liberty hat featured in an issue of Golf digest. In 2020, Imperial released the DNA Project, which is a series of hats based on popular Imperial golf hat styles sold from 1950 to 1990 with one hat representing each decade. For this release, Imperial chose the Original Rope to represent the 1970s. This hat was made of lightweight cotton canvas and featured a woven rope on the brim like the rope hats Imperial currently sells. The Imperial Rope Hat of Today Today this beloved style is available in many different colors and is featured in several icon collections. There are a few different styles of rope hats plus options with different colored rope in addition to the hat colors. There’s truly a rope hat for everyone. When it comes to rope hat styles, Imperial offers rope hat performance caps for a more classic look and rope hat mesh styles when you want something a little different. Both are made with performance polyester fabric, a woven rope and plastic snap closure. Choose from many different color options and pick out one or a few to sport on the golf course! For icons, there are many rope hats in the most popular Imperial icons collections. In the Imperial Mascots Collection, for example, several of the hats have multi-colored rope rather than pure white. Or find delectable designs in the Edibles Collection with icons of your favorite snacks and beverages. These icons will bring a little bit of fun and whimsy to this style of golf hat that already has plenty of history and character. If you’re looking for a more serious edge in your on-course style, represent your favorite golf tournaments by selecting a vintage looking rope hat from the Championships Collection, which features designs based on events like the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open. With several different colors and styles, even the ropes have a slight twist on these hats. Design a Custom Golf Rope Hat So you’re convinced you need to add a golf rope hat to your hat collection, but none of the current Imperial style feel quite like the one. There’s no need to give up just yet because Imperial makes it simple to create your very own custom golf rope hat using the Design Your Own feature. The first step is to choose from our range of blank rope hats – from performance caps to mesh back caps, flat brim and even different fabric options like corduroy and pigment-washed cotton twill. Each style comes in a variety of color options and offers a bit of a different fit and flair depending on your personal style and the look you’re hoping to achieve. Once you’ve chosen one of our blank hats and you’re in the Design Your Own tool, you can mix and match colors and current Imperial icons or you have the option to upload a logo or icon you have designed yourself. One of the best parts about designing custom rope hats with Imperial is there is no order minimum. That means you can create your own custom creation on one of our blank hats and order just one if that’s all you want. We never want to stand in the way of your creativity and vision! Rope hats are a golf hat classic and we don’t see that changing any time soon. Do design custom rope hats for yourself, family or friends and sport a golf hat fashion staple for the ages.

Imperial’s visor has been selected as the official Tour Visor®. This selection couldn’t be more fitting as Imperial’s iconic high crown visor design has stood the test of time for decades of men’s golf fashion. Ever since Imperial began making classic, quality headwear in 1916, they’ve come to be known for their men’s golf visors and hats, specifically high crown golf hats. The Tour Visor® features what is known as the original “high crown” style, so we’re digging into the history of men’s golf visors, this classic design and Imperial’s presence in the golf world. How the Men’s Golf Visor Came to Be The original men’s golf sun visor started out as a simple visor on the baseball diamond, which was a precursor to the baseball cap we all know and love today. But while the sport of baseball went on to design the full cap style that we currently associate with the game, players of other sports, like golf and tennis, continued to wear the visor style. Golf hats for men eventually took shape for the game of golf with some resembling the full cap style, or Performance Cap at Imperial, and others developing into the tour visor. If one had to choose the moment the visor really made its mark in the golf world, though, many would point to famed golfer Arnold Palmer wearing a golf visor and throwing it into the air in 1960 as he won the U.S. Open. From there, men’s golf visors became a sought-after style on the golf course, and Imperial led the charge in making it the popular tour visor look we know and love today. Tracing Imperial High Crown Visors Through the Years As the originators of the high crown style golf visor, it’s possible to trace the evolution of the men’s golf visor through vintage Imperial catalogs. About a decade after that 1960 win by Arnold Palmer, Imperial sports visors were sold in the 1977 catalog in multiples, with one dozen visors coming per order for cotton twill hats with absorbent sweatbands, adjustable velcro closure and a variety of colors. The absorbent sweatbands were a gamechanger for those wearing a men’s golf sun visor for protection on hot days. In the 1985 catalog, both “high crown” and “low crown” men’s golf visor styles are available with different logos embroidered on the crown. The “Ray’s end” style, however, features embroidery placement on the left side of the visor brim. The first time a logo appeared on the crown of a baseball cap was in 1901, and from there the crown became more vertical moving into the 1940s. The high crown look, like Imperial’s classic Tour Visor®, is perfectly suited to show off one’s personal style with embroidery, which is another reason Imperial’s hats set them apart. From food and beverages to animals and state pride, Imperial allows the wearers to truly represent their own style and look. The high crown style goes hand in hand with this space for the wearers to show off their personality with a logo or fun design. Imperial sports visors are now the perfect way to show off your personal style as well as your regard for the history and tradition of men’s golf visors. By 1987, Imperial’s catalog announced the “beginning of new excitement in visor features for Imperial.” These high crown visors were made with 2-ply oxford poplin, while maintaining the signature terry cloth sweatband inside, and available in 15 different colors. The 1999 catalog specifically featured an Oxford visor, alongside an Oxford bucket hat in classic preppy colors in the popular Oxford cloth. This was the moment bucket hats became another choice in the realm of golf hats for men. The year 2007 gave us a glimpse of the iconic Tour Visor®, in the high crown style with a silver adjustable closure. Finally, in 2022 that Imperial high crown look is still the classic style, taking its place once more as the official Tour Visor®. It’s not just through Imperial’s catalogs that you can witness the history of the high crown visor’s growth and popularity in the golf world – you can also see them on the golf course over the years with players proudly sporting this signature style. There are several professional golfers who have come to be associated with high crown golf visors, like Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and, most recently, Bubba Watson. But the style isn’t only for the winners’ circle – amateurs and golf fans across the country have embraced this classic decades-old men’s golf visor style and continue to have fun putting their mark on it, particularly through the creative and custom options Imperial now offers. The Right Men’s Golf Hat For You Golf hats for men may change in popularity throughout the years, but the power of Imperial Tour Visors® never goes out of style. Knowing how to wear a golf visor and pull it off is one way to put yourself a cut above the rest, and Imperial visors can help you do that. For fans of the men’s golf visor or the high crown golf visor in particular, this is the year to once again embrace the look of the official Tour Visor®. It’s clear that through the years, despite minor design tweaks and style changes, you really just can’t mess with the classics. So give the Tour Visor® a spin and remember, you’re in good company.

To view a digital catalog of Imperial’s 2023 Collection, please click here.To view a digital catalog of Imperial’s 2023 Quick Turn Import Only styles, please click here. The 2023 collection debuted for Imperial sales representatives this week. Fresh new styles crafted for the golf course, the club house and everywhere in-between are included in the broad selection of trend-forward headwear and apparel. Overall, 20 new styles were added to the Imperial line this year in addition to an expanded selection of color and print options for best-sellers. Major updates for 2023 also include the impressive strides made towards the brand’s industry-leading commitment to sustainability. Imperial’s focus on the development of high-grade performance fabrics made from GRS and Oeko-Tex® certified recycled polyester, and the sourcing of Oeko-Tex® certified organic cotton fabric, has led to a third of all Imperial styles now being in alignment with the Sustainability Project. Featuring these innovative new fabrics are a new small fit performance visor, three new jacquard knit styles, and The Hinsen Ponytail Cap. The Hinsen has the same fit and feel as the best-selling L210P Small Fit Performance Cap, with the addition of an open back panel and matching elastic cross bands that comfortably allows for a ponytail to fit through. In addition to cutting-edge fabrics and inventive new styles, this season’s collection is all about creating subtle, elevated statements using playful microprints and patterns. The Mahalo, a structured performance Hawaiian print cap, and The Paradigm, a performance microprint bucket hat, are focal points of the new ‘patterns’ section in the 2023 Imperial catalog. The new patterns incorporate tropical leaves, colorful botanicals and retro camouflage motifs. Original microprint patterns comprised of beachy elements, desert landscapes and winter scenes are now available for several styles including the best-selling Alter Ego performance cap. Tonal patterns like the nostalgic checkered nylon ‘Square One’ fabric can also be found on new styles like The Nutmeg, a six- panel, structured snapback style. “The future looks bright and our sensibilities have changed from the dark neutrals we’ve been in for several seasons, to the optimistic, cheerful hues manifested in many of our 2023 prints. Safeguarding that future by committing to more sustainable practices and materials creates long term value for the brand, our customers and the planet.” David Shaffer, Senior Vice President of Sales • New Styles for Outdoor Enthusiasts Imperial has an extraordinary selection of headwear options designed to keep you comfortable in the great outdoors. The Freestone is a durable new style made from Stretch Cordura® ripstop fabric that features a float-able visor board, perfect for anyone who spends time on the water. New performance styles like The Rematch, with its tonal, diamond-patterned performance cap and The Bomb Draw, with its micro-perforated back panels are both lightweight, breathable and moisture wicking. • New Heritage Styles Imperial is a brand with over 100 years of heritage and their culture of tradition is evident in The Highlands, a heathered flannel and poly micro jacquard style, and The Pine Grove, a vintage inspired, preppy styled cap made from Pinwale Corduroy and Ultrasuede – Both new for 2023. • New Decoration techniques Imperial is unmatched in its offering of quality decoration techniques. New for 2023 is 3D Chain Stitching, Chenille letters and numbers that give an instant collegiate look to any style, and HP+ Patches with raised details and a soft, flexible texture.