OUR STORY

Holdout started with a simple question:

Can we make great golf apparel in AMerica?

13+ YEARS ON THE GOLF COURSE

I’m Henry McGannon, founder of Holdout. I’ve spent more than 13 years working as a professional caddie at courses across the Carolinas, currently at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, along with countless hours playing the game myself.

Holdout brings together two things I care deeply about: golf and a belief in making clothes differently here in America.

Henry McGannon

The idea for Holdout

Before Holdout, I spent more than three years running a golf apparel brand called RealGolfers. Every product we sold was made overseas, and at the time, I honestly thought that was just how apparel was made.

When RealGolfers ended, I started thinking about what I wanted to do next. Around that time, I heard American Giant founder Bayard Winthrop talk about what it takes to make clothing in America. It made me wonder whether it was actually possible to build a golf apparel brand the same way, working with American manufacturers and building as much of the supply chain here as possible.

The more I looked into it, the more I realized how little I knew about the clothes I had spent years selling, and how much manufacturing still existed here in America.

That became the starting point for Holdout.

learing how it's made

Running an apparel brand taught me how easy it is to sell clothing without really knowing much about the people or places behind it.

With Holdout, I wanted to know more.

I wanted to understand how the clothes were being made, who was making them, and where the materials came from.

Making in America gives us a lot of things we care about: the ability to support American communities and skilled manufacturing, build direct relationships with the people making our clothes, and have much greater visibility into how those clothes are actually made.

The more I learned, the more convinced I became that knowing your supply chain isn't just about transparency. It's about responsibility. If we're going to put the Holdout name on something, I want to know how it was made and who made it.

Those ideas shaped the first Holdout collection from the beginning. We worked through repeated rounds of sampling and refinement, sourced materials from American suppliers, and developed the garments alongside the people who would ultimately make them.

WHERE HOLDOUT IS GOING

GROW WITH THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT

The plan is to keep working with independent American mills, factories and suppliers, and become a bigger and more consistent customer for them over time.

MAYBE BUILD SOMETHING OF OUR OWN

If Holdout grows enough, I will eventually open a small cut-and-sew factory. It would give us more control over development and production, create manufacturing jobs, and it would be pretty cool.

CONNECT PEOPLE TO HOW CLOTHES ARE MADE

I want Holdout to help people understand how clothing is actually made: where the fiber came from, who made the fabric, who dyed it, who sewed it, and what happens to it when we're done with it.

Learning how clothes are made also helps us pay more attention to the bigger impact of the apparel industry.

The fashion and textile industry accounts for an estimated 2–8% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

I don't think Holdout is going to solve those problems. But I do think we can make really good golf clothes, make them responsibly, show people how they're made, and maybe get a few more people to think differently about the clothes they buy.

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