Bad Birdie

Founded 2017 · Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

Apparel & Footwear

#20

Global Rank

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Bad Birdie made loud golf shirts culturally acceptable again, building a brand around the idea that golf apparel could be fun, bold, and performance-driven simultaneously. Founded in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2017 by Jason Richardson and Chris Riccobono, Bad Birdie launched with a direct-to-consumer model and a simple premise: golf shirts featuring irreverent, maximalist prints inspired by Hawaiian shirts, '90s nostalgia, and pop culture references, all made with modern technical fabrics. Early designs featured taco prints, pizza patterns, and flamingos, the kind of shirts traditionalists would dismiss but younger golfers embraced enthusiastically. The brand's marketing leaned into humor and self-awareness, positioning Bad Birdie as the antidote to boring golf apparel without sacrificing performance features like moisture-wicking and stretch. Bad Birdie grew rapidly through social media, influencer partnerships, and collaborations with breweries, sports teams, and lifestyle brands, creating limited-edition designs that sold out quickly and generated buzz. The company expanded beyond shirts into polos, hoodies, shorts, and accessories, maintaining the same design philosophy across categories. Bad Birdie's success coincided with broader shifts in golf culture, younger players, relaxed dress codes, social golf, and the rise of golf as lifestyle rather than sport, and the brand positioned itself at the center of that movement. By 2024, Bad Birdie had opened retail locations and expanded distribution beyond its website, though it maintained its DTC-first approach. The brand represents golf's ongoing casualization and the willingness of a new generation to reject the sport's aesthetic conservatism. In a category once defined by muted colors and understated logos, Bad Birdie thrives by being impossible to ignore.