Blair Hedley experienced an epiphany during the pandemic. She found herself working at home, bingeing on Netflix in her free time and trying to figure out what to do — what she could do — during the early days of social distancing and high risk of infection.
Her future husband, an avid golfer, was quickly able to escape to the golf course with friends because of the game’s low-risk environment: outdoors and with each player rarely close to anyone else during play.
“He’s one of those golf-obsessed men,” she recalled. “So, he was going out there with his guys and enjoying the summer, having a beer and being social. Meanwhile, I was inside on the couch. I thought, ‘This sounds way better.’”
Intrigued, Hedley started playing golf with her boyfriend (they married this summer). And, soon after that, the idea for what became her recently started women’s golf apparel company — Beldrie — began percolating. That’s because she was unhappy with the lack of clothing options for women golfers.
She wanted something a little more modern and fun. Gradually, she decided to create what she wanted.
This summer, Hedley’s Charlotte-based startup debuted with four mix-and-match, golf-focused athleisure items: a mock neck top; a cropped, casual golf polo; a quarter-zip pullover; and a skort.
They’re sold exclusively online, priced at $80 to $110 each, and come in three colors. Going online-only allowed for better sales margins and fewer potential pitfalls. Creating a community and connecting with consumers can be much more tightly controlled with an exclusive online sales hub, she said. And it allows for capturing information about your customers.
Hedley declined to share specific figures but said sales have been encouraging, doubling each month since the launch. She started small to avoid being stuck with too much inventory.
Since then, Hedley has already placed a restock order. And she is looking ahead to releasing new items next spring.
Already, her apparel line and women’s golf focus have nabbed her mentions and features in Forbes and women’s entrepreneurial media site The Story Exchange.
How idea for golf apparel company came about
Hedley began toying with the idea of a golf apparel company several years ago. Beldrie formally started in June 2024.
When Hedley started playing, she was 28 (she’s 31 now). She described the options for women golfers as “shrink-it-and-pink-it,” meaning take a men’s golf shirt, making it smaller and producing it in female-friendly colors, or traditional, floral patterns aimed at older female golfers.
She started researching online how to start an athletic clothing company. That led to enrolling in a few, free online courses. She also connected with a few LPGA players to share her ideas and see whether they made sense. Google, she added, “became her best friend.”
At the time, she was working for Meta Platforms Inc.’s (NASDAQ: META) Facebook as a legal project manager. Hedley and her husband lived in Chicago then. In 2023, she began taking formal steps to form what became Beldrie.
She found a patternmaker in Chicago who helped convert her fashion ideas into golf clothes. Using her savings, Hedley self-financed what has become a $100,000 startup.
“Fingers crossed, I’ve stopped the bleeding a little bit,” she said. “The business is sustaining itself and I’ve been able to put money back into it (in recent months).”
Marketing is mainly through ads and casual videos on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. With an eye on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, Hedley made a point of mentioning, “Golf season doesn’t stop down South.”
Along the way, Hedley, who grew up in Winston-Salem, and her husband moved to Charlotte. They wanted something close to her hometown but a little bigger. Before Facebook, she had worked at KPMG. So, she had a business background, but apparel was new terrain.
Female golfers on the rise
Her timing was superb. According to the National Golf Foundation, since 2019, the net increase in female golfers — 1.4 million — surpassed the net increase in male golfers — 900,000. Girls and younger women are playing at higher rates, too.
The percentage of golfers who are female reached 26% last year, up from 20% in 2011 and the highest overall proportion to date, the foundation said.
The clothes, Hedley said, can be worn on and off the course. They are aimed at being both stylish and functional. They meet golf-course rules and etiquette standards “but the clothing was made for women to feel comfortable and confident. It’s flattering.”
The functional part includes pockets for golf balls and tees.
As for the name?
“The name is a completely made-up word, thanks to trademark law,” she said. “I had two names before Beldrie, when I was pre-production phase (that didn’t pan out). I just wanted to launch the company but I kept having to pause and do the trademark search (to find a name).”
At one point, Hedley said, she decided to call the company Lofted, as in the angle of a golf club or the direction of a shot. That name was short-lived, she added, as the fashion retailer Loft contacted Hedley and said the name was too similar.
