Interview with Leyalder
Leyalder is a new women’s golf clothing company founded with strong aims to reduce inequality on the golf course and provide women with modern golf clothing. I spoke with Scott, the founder of Leyalder to understand why he decided to enter the women’s golf clothing market. Scott grew up around golf as his dad is a greenkeeper, but he said he wasn’t really aware of how strong the inequality between men and women in golf was until more recently. Leyalder was born from date nights at Alderley Edge Golf Club in Cheshire in the Summer of 2021, when Scott found that there was a market for versatile and sophisticated golf clothing for women that could be worn to play golf and then, for example, go for a drink afterwards. Together with female experts in the fashion field, the first product was designed and developed.
The company’s values are “Simple. Sophisticated. Sustainable.” My takeaway from our conversation is that Leyalder wants to provide functional and stylish golf clothing that is sustainably produced.
The company is certainly very committed to being sustainable and close to its roots in the UK. The name “Leyalder” is in fact an anagram of “Alderley” where the idea of creating a woman’s golf outfit arose. The first collection is named after a village in Cheshire and all future collections are also planned to be named after Cheshire locations. The fabric for the dress is from a bluesign® accredited Italian company which again speaks to the company’s commitment to sustainability. All other materials, as well as the design and production is done in the UK. Leyalder has set up a subscription to offset their carbon emissions and has committed to offsetting 12 tonnes this year.
It took 18 months and 7 or 8 sample iterations to produce the first collection, “The Prestbury Collection” which was fully launched towards the end of Summer 2023 and consists of a golf dress in Raspberry Pink or Midnight Blue. The dress is available in a range of sizes from UK Size 6-22. I was kindly gifted a dress to try and decided to choose the Raspberry Pink. Scott suggested sizing down if I was in between sizes which worked for me. I was very pleasantly surprised when I opened the package at how durable the material felt - very different to other golf dresses I have in my wardrobe. The dress is 90% Polyamide and 10% Elastane. The website states that the dress has “moisture wicking properties” and “intelligent UV protection” which are great features of any golf items. The dress comes with grey shorts too. The packaging is fully dissolvable in boiling water which I felt was a great way to reduce waste.
The dress is minimalistic – a single colour block, collarless design, zip at the back, with two pockets and a small logo on one shoulder. The material feels soft yet substantial enough to wear throughout a round comfortably and although the shorts are an important addition for women’s golf dresses, I felt more comfortable wearing something with less stitching as I felt the shorts were slightly visible through the dress. I personally feel comfortable not changing after golf to go out for a drink, but I understand the concept behind the idea, and you can’t go wrong with a simple dress like this for a drink after golf or to wear for other sports.
The dress itself is currently selling at £129.99 with free delivery in the UK within 1-3 business days. The price is at the higher end but I think a customer who cares about supporting a new UK company and about sustainability would be willing to invest in a piece like this. As I’m currently writing, you can get 15% off your first order on their website. It’s certainly something that women could put on their Christmas gift list as a great piece to wear when the sun returns or on a golf holiday.
Leyalder’s plan going forwards is to focus on the current collection and making it widely available across the UK in golf shops before venturing into other products in 2025. This makes sense to me as a new company can then test the market and make sure they are producing what a customer wants.
Overall, Leyalder has taken time to produce a product that it believes in and certainly echoes the company’s values. It will be interesting to see how the brand evolves in the future and the sustainability practices it undertakes would be a good reference point for other companies too. I wish Leyalder the best of luck!
Written as part of a paid partnership with Leyalder Ltd but all product views are my own.