In a statement posted on Sun Mountain’s Facebook page, owner Rick Reimers honorably took the hit for the humiliating wardrobe malfunction that prompted quite the debacle during last Friday’s monsoon at Celtic Manor:
Sun Mountain Sports is very sorry for the way our rain suits performed at the Ryder Cup.
We will apologize to Corey & Lisa Pavin and the U.S. team at our earliest opportunity, and hope they will accept our heartfelt apology for the stress this must have caused.
We are evaluating what happened. Our RainFlex, introduced… in 2006, has been extensively and successfully used by over 150 tour players, the 2009 Presidents Cup team, the 2007 and 2009 Walker Cup teams and thousands of PGA professionals.
We believed, as Corey must have, that our RainFlex, built with quiet, stretchable, breathable fabric would be an advantage to the U.S. team. That it was not is a great disappointment. It just was not enough for the torrential rains at Celtic Manor.
Sincerely,
Rick Reimers
Owner, Sun Mountain Sports, Inc.
I’m tempted to buy one of those suits — without my name stitched on the back — and wear it in the shower to see how it holds up. While the rain gear clearly didn’t perform in the heavy rain, it sucks that Sun Mountain has to deal with the PR disaster. Now I know Sun Mountain is a respectable company and their rain gear is near top-of-the-line, it’s still not the best in the market.
But maybe it would have been fine had it not been for all the extra frills…Sources inside the company apparently grumbled that the leakage was caused by the request to meet the “elaborate stitching” design request from Lisa Pavin, who was responsible for picking the team uniforms.
Instead, the US team had to deal with playing in wet clothes — not to mention, leaky, drenched golf bags — against a dry European squad. And officials had to waste a few thousand bucks snatching up rain gear in the merchandise tent.
Who knew it rained so much in Wales in October? Nick Faldo did.
When they screen ink onto a rain suit they wipe the water repellent properties off with alchohl. When they embroider they use needles (DOH)that make holes in the fabric. If the embroider fails to retreat the letters/graphics sewn on they will leak. Sun Mountain has a quality product, MS. Borey and her over the top additions voided the repellent qualities.
“and wear it in the shower to see how it holds up”
Please do. Post pics. Thanks.
Noticed Tiger and Furyk wore the ProQuip replacement rain pants during the Sunday matches, while others went back to the Sun Mountain pants (Fowler).
Furyk showing a little love as he’s sponsored by ProQuip I believe. As for Sun Mountain, clearly they will not be sponsoring Tiger anytime soon.
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Steph, I’m not sure if you’ve been preempted by another writer on this, but it would be great if we could hear about why the hell Lisa Pavin (and Corey, for that matter) had anything to do with designing the team’s outfits. Maybe that story would be a bit stale, but I presume it’s based on some wonderful golf tradition. Even if those rain suits performed well, they still look like they were designed for a high school basketball team circa 1987. Much of the rest of the team’s wardrobe also looked like they were designed by a golfer’s wife (i.e., the cornflower cardigan & yellow sweater with giant Ryder Cup image). This is such a high-profile event that I imagine an American designer would take on the task of designing the entire wardrobe for a nominal fee in exchange for the world-wide exposure. Someone please call Ralph before 2012.
I agree with Tim, who is to say that the captains wife has any fashion sense or good taste at all. What if the wife has no interest at all in fashion, what if shes a slob. What if John Daly were named captain, the team could wear loudmouth pants, his wife would put the wags in tube tops and hot pants
I had no problem with the “uniforms”. I did not get the lavender but I was surprised how good it looked. They where classic and loved the team logo. I liked the crest look. Also had no issues with the look of the rain gear. I thought they where pretty cool, but shame on “some inside” Sun Mountain for trying to put this off on Mrs. Pavin. If they knew it would be a problem…then they should have said so. I do believe if they had said “we can do it but it might not work” then they would have gone a different direction.
The way I understand it: the tradition is for the captain to choose the uniforms and Corey asked his wife who has more style than him to do it. They looked great!!
“docsbro” is either Mr. Pavin or some guy with bad taste who played on a high school basketball team in 1987.
Great photo of Phil looking dejected. The waterproofs disaster gives him an excuse this time but what’s his excuse when he goes missing when it’s rainy or windy at The Open Championship?
I have no problem with the wives helping with picking out the outfits. I think we are going a little overboard on the criticism of Lisa Pavin. The rainsuits did not impact the outcome of the matches at all. The media needed something to write about and they beat this wet horse to death. Enough already.
Sun Mountain claimed the suits were waterproof and they failed. The blame should be on the manufactuer and not Lisa. If stitching the lettering potentially cause some leakage then Sun Mountain should have use some sort of backing to correct it.
Back to the wives involvement, it is tradition for them to help in picking the uniforms, however it is the Captain’s responsibility to oversee this. And IMO women would be much better at picking fashionable outfits then men. Can you imagine Tom Kite, Jeff Sluman, or hal Sutton deciding what young players should wear on the course and social events. I will take my chances with the Lisa Pavin’s of the world.
You where right Tim I …..
“i.e., the cornflower cardigan & yellow sweater with giant Ryder Cup image”
It somehow reminded me at those ugly self knit pullovers you get for xmas – the ones you are embarresed to wear anywhere close to public – the first time i actually saw them wearing it, i really couldnt belive it and after a while i had a really good laugh about it!!!
I know there are lots of different tastes in the world, but to me, a design like that tells me whoever approved to it, lives on another planet!
The team should stick with versions of red, white and blue at every Ryder Cup. They are representing the U.S. and should have a consistent color theme and dress the same. I don’t understand why the players use some dress discretion each day with either hat color, vest color etc. Seem inconsistent with the team concept. The rain suit issue was an unfortunate side show is most unfortunate for Sun Mountain. Their goods have always been average in my opinion and were probably a poor brand choice to begin with.
OMFG They’re rainsuits for PETE’S SAKE. They’re not nuclear bombs or weapons of mass destruction. Get over it. I realize we lost and its not because of rainsuits. Making such a trivial thing so important almost bordering on NEUROSIS… GET A LIFE…
the clothing designs, color, patterns, etc were just awful…
I so agree with Tim, yeah, Europe has Lacoste, Hugo Boss et al, but we have Ralph Lauren! I don’t understand, they could get a designer for it but I think Mrs. Pavin is so into herself that she draw everything by herself, for someone who flaunts her designer outfits all the time, its a shock that she does not know about what stylist and designers do! Oh well! At least that’s the last of her.
And sometimes its also nice to lose but wearing a great outfit to save yourself from the pain!
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