Recently, I went on a golf familiarization trip to Florida’s First Coast of Golf. To show the world that Orlando Golf Blogger travels in style (or at least we like to think so), I contacted Fila about getting some golf shirts from their 2011 line with the OGB Logo stitched on them.
I ordered six Fila golf shirts for the trip, three for myself and three for Don the marketing wiz.
The shirts are perfect for a summer round of golf, even here in Orlando. Most of the Fila Golf 2011 line of shirts feature a moisture-wicking technology, which as the name implies, draws moisture and sweat away from the body. It does this by transferring the liquid to the fabric’s outer layer, allowing it to evaporate quickly. The outcome is that you have a shirt that dries rapidly, with the added benefit of keeping you cool, dry and comfortable during your round.
The 2011 line also features an anti-bacterial finish, which is effective in eliminating bacteria caused by perspiration and it has an excellent washing durability.
Finally, most of this years Fila golf shirts are made with recycled polyester. This is one of my favorite features. This material is an eco-friendly fabric which has been manufactured from 100% recycled plastic bottles. This unique recycling process converts post-consumer plastics into high quality performance yarns, making the fabric extremely soft.
Isn’t that awesome? This seems to be a new trend emerging in the fabric industry, which in my opinion, is amazing. How they can take a plastic bottle and turn it into soft fabric is nothing short of magic in my mind. Earlier this year I did a review on some throwback headcovers from AB Golf Designs that were made from a similar material.
Below are the Fila Golf Shirts we sported during our trip to the 2011 Players.
Americano Polo
The Americano golf shirt is made of 92% Recycled Polyester and 8% Lycra. This shirt features the moisture wicking and anti-bacterial finish. The polo has a self collar, golf tail and side vents with the Fila logo sewn on the left sleeve.
For those like me who didn’t know this, a self collar is a collar on a polo shirt that is comprised of the same material as the body, stitched at the neck.
Le Mans Polo
The Le Mans Polo is made of 92% Recycled Polyester and 8% Lycra on the body and the left sleeve has a mesh insert that is 93% Nylon and 7% Spandex. It’s a moisture wicking and anti-bacterial polo with self collar, raglan sleeves and contrasting left sleeve mesh panel, golf tail and side vents. The Fila logo is embroidered on back yoke.
Another new term for me was raglan sleeves, which is a type of sleeve whose distinguishing characteristic is to extend in one piece fully to the collar, leaving a diagonal seam from underarm to collarbone.
Madrid Polo
The Madrid Polo is made of 92% Recycled Polyester and 8% Lycra on the body and the mesh panels consist of 94% Nylon and 6% Lycra. This golf shirt is a moisture wicking and anti-bacterial polo with contrasting self collar and hidden zipper placket with a mesh shoulder yoke and side panels. The stacked Fila logo is embroidered on the left sleeve.
Innsbruck Striped Polo
The Fila Golf Innsbruck Striped Polo is made of a combination of materials. The stripes are 87% Nylon and 13% Lycra whilst the solids are 92% Recycled Polyester 8% Lycra. Features moisture wicking and anti-bacterial finish with self collar, golf tail and side vents. The logo is embroidered on left sleeve.
California Polo
The Fila Golf California style polo is the only shirt out of our six not made from recycled material. It’s 86% Polyester and 14% Spandex. Same as the others though, with moisture wicking and anti-bacterial finish. The logo is embroidered on the left sleeve.
Overall, the shirts are great and make awesome golf shirts. My personal favorite is the Innsbruck Striped Polo (also available in blue and fig(?)). As you can see in the pictures, they can add a custom logo to their entire collection. One thing about the custom work though, it tends to curl in on itself after the first wash. I think it’s due to the light weight fabric used in the shirts, it’s not strong enough to keep the stitching straight.
They are very comfortable and I can attest to moisture wicking. It was pretty surprising just how well it worked. Every round of golf we played, there was a distinct lack of perspiration in the usual areas of the shirt. The light weight material makes a huge difference. I know many of you can relate, but when I play golf in a “normal” polo, after a few holes, the shirt begins to cling to your body and is really distracting when you’re swinging a golf club.
There are some minor downsides to light weight shirts though. They tend to wrinkle easily and can be tricky to iron (low heat!!) and they tend to emphasize the midsection, as you can clearly tell in the images above. There’s no hiding that spare tire in these! 🙂
Of course, given the alternative, I’ll take the Fila Golf shirts over a regular polo any day of the week.