Malbon Golf Names Former Nike Exec as its First CEO

Stephen and Erica Malbon had a few targets after they created Malbon Golf in 2017. The married couple sought to construct a group of people that cherished the sport however weren’t all that eager on its staid, conventional attire decisions. They had been additionally decided to construct a top quality product that, whereas trendy, might nonetheless face up to the trials of the course.

Over the previous seven years, the Malbons have succeeded in reaching these targets and have managed to interrupt by way of and construct a profitable model that has additionally partnered with everybody from Tag Heuer, Nike, New Steadiness and Prince to Bushmills whiskey and Budweiser.

However the model has reached a tipping level and to proceed its fast development, the Malbons knew they wanted to deliver on somebody with robust expertise in style. That government is Aaron Heiser, a longtime Nike government, who will take the reins as chief government officer of Malbon Golf on Monday, reporting to the model’s board of administrators.

The Malbons will proceed as co-chief artistic officers and also will proceed to serve on the board.

Heiser, who will now oversee all points of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based firm, spent practically 18 years at Nike, serving as world vp of attire, equipment and licensing the place he was answerable for all points of product creation and merchandising. He additionally served as vp and common supervisor of the Better China retail division at Nike, was common supervisor of its Western European Nike shops, and likewise served as common merchandise supervisor of its U.S. shops. He left the corporate in June 2023.

His background additionally contains Armani Trade, Tommy Hilfiger and Hole Inc. and he began his profession as an assistant service provider on the Federated Merchandising Group.

“We did a 12 months’s value of interviewing earlier than we selected Aaron,” mentioned Erica Malbon. “Steven and I began the model in 2017 with a number of ardour, however not a number of experience in style and attire.” However to proceed to develop Malbon Golf from a enterprise standpoint, they realized they wanted somebody with strong trade experience and Heiser match the invoice. Erica Malbon pointed to his “nearly lifetime of expertise at a big sports activities model that we admire” as key to the rent.

“Stephen and I are excited for this subsequent chapter for Malbon,” she added. “We searched excessive and low to search out the person who we felt would align with the tradition that now we have constructed but understands the interior working of a world way of life and sports activities attire enterprise. Aaron checked our packing containers and we couldn’t be extra keen about him becoming a member of the group.”

Her husband mentioned he was proud that that they had managed to attain their targets to “curate a group” of like-minded individuals whereas constructing a model with nice product. “However as entrepreneurs, if you make selections utilizing your intestine intuition and your coronary heart,” it’s not at all times the very best technique, he mentioned, and it was time to usher in an outsider with a recent perspective.

“What Stephen and Erica have constructed is completely unbelievable, and one thing I’m unsure I’ve seen within the trade earlier than,” Heiser mentioned. “Malbon actually has turn into a world group that bridges numerous backgrounds, celebrates individuality and fosters camaraderie each on and off the golf course. To say it’s completely on fireplace as a model could be an understatement, and I look ahead to working with your complete group to supercharge that momentum and obtain the following part of development and improvement.”

He added that the model “has energy far larger than the dimensions of the corporate right now. It’s an actual juggernaut they usually have created a model profile individuals need to be a part of. Now it’s time to scale that to a wider viewers.” They declined to offer a quantity determine for the corporate.

They acknowledged that the style panorama is suffering from manufacturers whose founders introduced in an outsider to run the enterprise and the outcome was not good after they started to butt heads. However they’re satisfied that gained’t be the case at Malbon Golf.

“I’m very conscious of the scenario,” Heiser mentioned. “I’ve seen it work in some cases and crash and burn in others. However fixed communication is primary. The true secret sauce at Malbon is Erica and Stephen. They’ve made it clear the place they need to proceed to play and the place I’ve the aptitude to make the model larger. We’re all aligned on the place we need to see this model go.”

Erica Malbon added that not solely was Heiser’s background key to the rent, it was his persona as effectively.

Stephen Malbon added: “We’re not a publicly traded firm so there’s no stress from shareholders to proceed to develop at a excessive price. I prefer to design and produce storytelling content material and we don’t need too many cooks within the kitchen doing the identical factor.”

Stephen Malbon has been a fan of the sport of golf since he was 12, however as a result of his friends had no real interest in the game, he gave it up for a few years. He returned to the sport just a few years later, taking a job as a caddie throughout school and enjoying when he might throughout faculty and when he launched a artistic company, Frank151, that labored with purchasers corresponding to Toyota, ESPN, Coca-Cola and others. He additionally printed a streetwear-skewed journal of the identical identify.  

Erica Malbon was additionally entrepreneurial, founding The Now, a spa and therapeutic massage parlor.

Along with the golf attire and equipment, Malbon Golf additionally operates shops in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Carmel, Calif., within the U.S. in addition to items in Asia and Europe.