Swannies Golf Style Success Stems from Carlson Roots

Swannies switched to golf apparel, but the ethos behind the sandal remained. At a time when solid and striped polos dominated the market, Swannies looked to make a splash with zany prints at more wallet-friendly prices for younger audiences.

“Being able to combine all that into an affordable price point, we felt, was a total missing part of the market,” says Stang. “It made a lot of those initial conversations with golf courses easier because we were something different than the other brands asking for space in their pro shops.”

Revamped, Swannies started gaining traction. From polos, the brand expanded to hoodies, quarter-zips, hats and more.

“Our first actual apparel product was just a T-shirt that said, ‘Golf should be fun,’” says Iversen. “We try to bring that vibe into a lot of our products, and for it to be the north star of our design inspiration.”

Following a Passion

Amid the turbulence of managing a startup, Stang says he leaned on lessons learned from earning his business degree at Minnesota Carlson.

Among Stang’s first hands-on business experiences were projects in the Carlson Ventures Enterprise (CVE), during which he worked with MBA students to provide analysis for real-world clients. Toby Nord, ’82 MBA, CVE’s professional director, served as a mentor. This connection became a lasting one, as Nord is now an advisor to Swannies’ board of directors.

Stang’s biggest lesson from Carlson? Know your passion.

Stang recalls taking Entrepreneurship in Action, a yearlong course in which students create and launch a startup, in his senior year. His team worked to develop a yogurt company, but it left a sour taste.

“I realized I’m just not passionate about food or yogurt,” says Stang. “Starting a business around golf, which I grew up around and love playing, it was so much easier to give everything I had to that and work 16 hours a day, and let that be my focus for a good chunk of the last decade because I was passionate about the brand and passionate about making a difference in golf.”
 

Sustainability Roots

That passion for golf wasn’t just about style. It was also about modernizing the industry’s values. For Stang and Iversen, this inspired a shared commitment to sustainability — a core value that traces back to the beginning of their partnership at the University.

The two met while taking classes in the Acara program, an initiative from the University’s Institute on the Environment that challenged students across sectors to address social and environmental issues. Nord, who taught the Acara course Design for Sustainable Development, says Stang and Iversen’s complementary backgrounds — entrepreneurship and environmental engineering — were a perfect match.

“That’s part of their partnership, too, that they come from different disciplines,” says Nord. “They have just a broader set of knowledge than if they had the same background. They both wanted to incorporate sustainability, but because of their varying skillsets, they figured out how to execute it, which is easier said than done.”

Today, that foundational value is evident across Swannies’ operations. The company is dedicated to reducing its carbon footprint by using sustainable packaging, incorporating recycled materials into its products, working with responsible factory partners and supporting carbon offset projects. Swannies recently hit a milestone of having used more than 15 million discarded water bottles in its products.

“It’s been cool to realize that you can inject sustainable mindfulness and best practices into an industry, like golf apparel, which might not be immediately obvious,” says Iversen. “It’s been meaningful to incorporate a passion of ours, that initially brought us together, into our brand.”

Making a Mark

Swannies’ growth accelerated in 2020 as golf popularity soared amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, about a decade after that fateful Kickstarter campaign, Swannies employs 75 people and sells apparel in 2,500 golf clubs across the U.S., Canada and Europe — including iconic venues such as Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, and St. Andrews in Scotland. For Nord, who has closely followed Swannies’ trajectory, it’s been rewarding to see the success bloom from scrappy beginnings.

“As an educator, that’s your dream: That someone comes in, gets inspired, learns some tools, does some really cool work, lives the life of an entrepreneur, supports the program, gives back to the school, and leads a happy, self-fulfilling life. Actually, if everybody did that, I’d probably work for free,” says Nord.

Swannies has even made it onto golf’s biggest stage. As part of a three-year partnership, pro golfer Bubba Watson has worn Swannies gear during the Masters Tournament — proof that there’s space for a disruptor on the sport’s most hallowed grounds.

“It’s cool to have made a mark and made a difference in the golf industry,” says Stang. “We had this idea for a sandal that was fun and casual. Fast forward about 11 years, and we have actually made the game of golf and the golf industry push more toward fun, accessible and affordable. We’re a big part of that story.”

Photography by Pat Vasquez-Cunningham unless otherwise noted.