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Key Takeaways
Stephen and Erica Malbon founded the clothing brand Malbon Golf in 2017 to make golf more appealing to younger, trendier players
The line blends golf with fashion, music, and street culture and has attracted stars like Justin Bieber and Travis Scott
Malbon Golf grew rapidly during the pandemic as millions of new players embraced the sport and its inclusive community
If you’ve played any golf lately, you may have seen the younger men and women sporting stylish clothes with a cursive ‘M’ on them.
The brand is Malbon Golf, and the company founders, married couple Stephen and Erica Malbon, started it in 2017 with one mission: to make golf cooler to a new generation of players who might be just as into fashion, music, art, and street and surf culture as they are into hitting the links.
“When we started the brand, we really just wanted to get our own kids involved with golf,” Erica says with a laugh, of the initial impetus for launching Malbon in 2017. (Their teenage son Remington is now a major national junior champion.) “And we knew that to inspire young people, one way in was to start with fashion.”
The HVN Joelle skirt and HVN Anna Polo
Credit: Malbon Golf
But the brand was also born through her husband Stephen’s absolute obsession with the game.
As a kid in Virginia, he says he grew up playing the game with his dad, but as a teenager, he realized none of his friends were golfing, so he ditched it for ‘cooler’ sports like skateboarding. He later went on to start the cult magazine Frank 151, which focused on art, streetwear, sneakers, and other hip subcultures. When Erica got pregnant, he rediscovered a love for golf as a healthy outlet for himself and his growing family.
“I became obsessed in playing golf every day,” he says. He started to recruit other people he knew to play with him— pro skaters, musicians, entertainment industry pals — on Friday nights.
Stephen Malbon
Credit: Malbon Golf
“It started with four people that turned into eight, and then 140 people,” he says. “It was a community that turned into a brand and then it turned into a business.” When the couple realized there was a growing audience of golfers who were also into unique style, they opened a Malbon Golf store in Hollywood.
“We put in a golf shop on Melrose and Fairfax in L.A., which is like where usual golfers don’t go ever,” Erica says with a laugh. “We had a mix of amazing historical golf gear with some of the modern, creative and weirder clothes,” she continues. They also added in a golf simulator where people could come hit balls, and the shop was an instant hit.
Erica Malbon
Credit: Nicolas Malinauskas
“People like Justin Bieber and Travis Scott would stop by and ask if it was OK if he hit a few balls, and we’d be like, ‘Uh yeah!'” says Stephen. “But that type of thing started to happen just because we were in the middle of Hollywood.”
Justin Bieber is seen on October 01, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
Credit: Messigoal Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
The pandemic and social media also proved helpful for the brand’s rapid growth.
“It happened so quickly because of things like Top Golf, You Tube, golf influencers, and the pandemic,” says Erica.
The Preserve Hybrid Down Jacket ($388)
Credit: Malbon Golf
Stephen adds, “There were something like 10 million new golfers who took up the game during COVID. People realized its a healthy thing, they could be outside with the friends and family. The world was falling apart and no one knew what the hell was going on. We were unapologetically allowing people to be who they were and embrace where they came from and still enjoy golf, because at the time it was still such an intimidating sport to try.”
The Bettinardi Western Jacket ($378)
Credit: Malbon Golf
Stephen says that the usual people who dominated the courses were welcoming.
“Even the old-guard were open to it like, ‘Look come on out and enjoy the game, wear your hat backwards. People are dying. We don’t care!”
But although Malbon’s target audience may skew younger or trendier, the couple says they have the utmost respect for the game’s long-standing traditions and rules and its players. (Current brand ambassadors include both Jason Day, 38, and Fred Couples, 66.)
Fred Couples at the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach in 2026
Credit: Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty
“We love the traditions of golf,” Stephen says. “They’re beautiful. We’re not trying to change the rules or be negative about the sport in any way. The idea was more like, how do we usher golf into the future, and reach new people, through these initiatives? We just want to bring people together through the love of the game, and serve everyone across the board.”
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He adds, “Because the golf course doesn’t care like if you’re male or female or who you voted for, how much money you have or where you’re from or what you do at home,” he says. “The golf course doesn’t care about any of that stuff. And the amazing part is you can take people who are complete opposites in the real world, and when they get on the first tee, it’s like, ‘All right, partner, let’s get through the hazards and the wind together.'”
Says Erica, “Our mission statement was, and it still is, to inspire everyone to participate in the greatest game on earth.”
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