Inside Galvin Green: Archive Room

Inside Galvin Green: Archive Room - We go behind the scenes at Galvin Green HQ to discover the archive room where old products and unused prototypes are stored

Inside Galvin Green: Archive Room

The initial design process of Galvin Green products used to start with a good old fashioned pen sketch on paper but now, Mats admits it usually takes place on a computer. It all hinges on whether the product is benefiting from a new fabric.

Style changes alone are easier – once completed they will be sent to the factory in China to make a prototype. If it is to incorporate a new fabric, then not as much effort will be put into the look and Galvin Green will use an existing style to make a prototype using that fabric.

They would make around 10 pieces and give them certain people (a pretty cool job!) to go and test them out on the golf course. Feedback is gathered, alterations made and then once it gets an okay stamp from a performance and functionality perspective, work will start on the look of the garment.

Interestingly, the designers will always design far too many garments than is needed for each collection. The senior team at Galvin Green will undertaken what’s know as a ‘line freeze’ where they select around 60 per cent of the collection to move forward with, the rest are put on the backburner. These designs are kept on file while any prototypes are put into a special archive room, which we were given special access to.

This room in a golf geeks idea of heaven. Rows and rows of jackets, mid layers, shorts and trousers in every colour imaginable dating back to Galvin Green’s earliest days – we even found an original Mountain Ridge leather jacket. Some of the designs were extreme and quirky in their styling only have had limited appeal but it was fascinating to see the evolution golf clothing has gone through and it makes you appreciate the work of innovative companies like Galvin Green who exist to push the boundaries.