Glenmuir is still in full swing

Glenmuir is a brand with 130 years of experience in producing some of the finest clothing in golf but never in its storied history has it gone through a year quite like 2020.

We sat down with the Lanark-based brand’s managing director, Mikhel Ruia, to find out how the clothing specialist has tackled this year’s unique challenges head-on and how the love and care taken in producing every one of its garments continues to shine through.

How did lockdown impact Glenmuir, Sunderland of Scotland and MacWet?

“The impact COVID has had on Glenmuir has been unprecedented in our 130 years of existence.

“As an independent family business employing 97 staff in the heart of Scotland, our people are our biggest asset.

“Due to the dramatic drop in turnover, we had to furlough around 90 of our staff whilst we prepared the factory to be COVID safe following all government guidelines.

• The Glenmuir AW20 apparel collection is crafted to perform

“With the re-opening of golf, we now are delighted to have around 30 staff back in full-time and have all of the social distancing systems now in place.
Our business in Australia was never really impacted, and Austria and Germany rebounded very quickly.

“We very much hope to have all of our staff back in a few weeks time as our golf retail customers start to open up.”

How have you been helping retailers during this difficult time?

“One of our core values is responsibility and, now more than ever, we have a responsibility to support our customers however we can.

• Glenmuir introduces innovative “lockdown” sales platform

“We used technology to create a Lockdown Vendor platform which has helped alleviate some pressure on a record number of our customers.

“The innovative platform, a first of its kind in the golf industry, allows pros and retailers to set up an online ordering facility to list their current stock holding in less than five minutes.”

How do you see the rest of 2020 going for Glenmuir?

“With the return of golfers on the course and the spike of renewed interest in the game, this is quite a powerful opportunity for us.

“Our e-commerce sales have picked up and we believe golf retailers will start to see demand rise thanks to golfers’ pent-up demand.

• Win a brand new outfit from Glenmuir

“We believe that, with our superior products, highly experienced customer services teams and world-class personalisation, we will continue to serve our loyal fans and bring on-board lots of new ones.”

Many of you will have no doubt seen the brand’s #PeopleOfGlenmuir series on Instagram during lockdown.

For those of you who are unaware, this brilliant series was hosted by members of the Glenmuir team in Lanark and was streamed exclusively through Glenmuir’s Instagram.

• Check out Glenmuir’s Insta page here

A series of live Q&A sessions were held with famous sports personalities, including Andrew Murray, Ian Woosnam and Clare Balding OBE.

The series achieved record engagement for Glenmuir and illustrates the brand’s commitment to connecting with its fans, customers and team members.

It also let us know that the fine people at Glenmuir love the game just as much as we do!

More info: glenmuir.com