Consistently among the most popular brands for golf clothing and footwear, adidas is largely known for its performance apparel and footwear, however, one of the German company’s latest releases falls into line with the evolution of golf and culture.

Reinforced by CEO of adidas Bjørn Gulden at the global headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany during a special media event launching the new line, adidas remains a sports brand first and foremost.

“We are a sports brand … and the culture born from it,” Gulden said during the early unveiling of the adidas Originals golf line.

Officially launched in the lead-up to the year’s first major, The Masters, the golf Originals line pays homage to adidas’ past while also engaging the modern style and freedom of clothing choice that is part of the current golf world.

The Originals name will be familiar to many, even if not by its moniker. Reserved for special products inspired by the archives and identified by the brand’s trefoil logo, the wider Originals branding includes some of the most popular footwear products in the world, including Stan Smith and Samba shoes.

For golf, it is a largely new frontier, with Ludvig Aberg sporting items from the line at Augusta National that were in part inspired by the style of Sandy Lyle’s adidas apparel from his win in 1988. Aberg’s fellow Swede, Linn Grant, sported the women’s collection during the first women’s major, The Chevron, last week.

“Our iconic Originals range has always been defined by classic styles that have transcended time. We used our heritage as our muse and created Originals Golf with that same mindset, with the ultimate goal of building out a premium assortment of apparel that represents the convergence of fashion and culture that we are seeing in the game,” Global Apparel Director of adidas Golf Shaun Madigan said.

Including footwear, clothing and accessories, the Originals line is limited and owns a unique connection to company history, that is a constant source of inspiration for adidas via the extensive company archive at its Campus, which includes shoes worn by Lyle and Bernhard Langer at Augusta in winning years.

However, while appealing to one of the growing demographics of golfers that is certainly rising in Australia in younger players interested in fashion and standing out from the traditional crowd, the Originals line doesn’t represent a complete change in strategy for adidas.

Performance wear, identified by the triangle three stripe logo, continues as the primary output of the sports brand, with the likes of Grace Kim on the LPGA, and numerous players on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and WPGA Tour of Australasia staying true to the performance line-ups.

“I think the performance side is going to continue to be providing the best performance based product for the athlete. And when we look at that, there’s opportunities to explore a newness,” Madigan said.

“I want to say it’s just Originals, lifestyle and infused. A lot of that comes from the brand direction and the power of the brand and where the brand, the momentum behind it and where it’s going. That to me is really going to continue to be our focus, but we always have to ensure we take it back to be relevant for the game of golf.”

As the entire Australian golf community knows, what is relevant to the sport in this country is constantly evolving and on an upward path, with adidas determined to reflect and service those trends.

For more on the adidas Originals golf range, visit www.adidas.com.au/golf

adidas is a partner of Golf Australia, PGA of Australia and WPGA Tour of Australasia