Victoria H. covers the women's game for DORMIED, from apparel and equipment to the brands building for players the industry has historically overlooked.
Byrdie Golf Social Wear is a women's golf and lifestyle apparel brand founded in 2021 and based in Charlotte, North Carolina, started by Rachelle Wates and Hayden Hendrix, who met working at the same Charlotte specialty shop and both learned the game from their grandmothers. The clothes are built on that premise: 1970s country club dressing brought forward, designed in Charlotte and produced in South America, and made to work from the first tee through to dinner. By the founders' own estimate, around half of what the brand sells is bought by people who have no intention of playing eighteen holes in it.
In one sentence: Byrdie Golf Social Wear is a Charlotte-based women's golf apparel brand founded in 2021 by Rachelle Wates and Hayden Hendrix, known for retro country club styling, collaborations with Cole Haan and Dolce Vita, and a deliberate blurring of the line between golf wear and going-out wear.
What the data shows
DORMIED tracks search interest across 215 golf brands in 10 global markets.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Global DORMIED Index rank | 153 of 215 |
| DI score | 0.5 |
| Monthly global searches | 1,300 |
| Three-month change | +14.3% |
| Month-over-month change | -18.8% |
Source: DORMIED Index, July 2026 snapshot.
Byrdie is a small brand by the Index's measure and it would be dishonest to present it otherwise. Rank 153 of 215 with 1,300 monthly searches puts it in the lower third of everything we track. The three-month trend is positive at 14.3 percent, and earlier in the year the brand posted stretches of 92 and 118.8 percent quarterly growth, so the direction has been right more often than not. The monthly dip reflects a seasonal apparel business between drops rather than a decline.
The more interesting number is one the Index cannot capture. For a brand this size, Byrdie has assembled a collaboration list and a retail footprint that belong to a much larger company.
The grandmothers
The origin story is unusually specific, and it is the reason the clothes look the way they do.
Wates and Hendrix met working at Capitol, a high-end specialty shop in Charlotte. Wates spent seven years there as a buyer. Hendrix had been director of product development at the resort wear brand Coco Shop. Both had played golf since childhood, and both had learned it the same way: riding along in carts with their grandmothers, absorbing the etiquette of the course and, more consequentially for what came later, the wardrobe.
The idea arrived during the pandemic, when golf was one of the few things still available. The two of them were playing constantly and finding nothing they wanted to wear. What they built instead was an homage: their grandmothers' 1970s country club wardrobes, the sophistication and the silhouettes, updated for players who wanted to look like themselves.
That is a different founding impulse from most of the brands we cover. Malbon came out of streetwear, Students came out of skate culture, Arnie McNair came out of a complaint about synthetic fabric. Byrdie came out of two women wanting to dress like their grandmothers, which turns out to be a considerably better commercial idea than it sounds.
What Byrdie actually sells
The catalogue runs across tops, bottoms, dresses and jumpsuits, a category the brand simply calls Social Wear, and accessories. Collections rotate by season, with recent ones including Harbour House, Coastal Capsule and Île De La Mer.
Prices span roughly $40 to $215 depending on the piece and where it sits in the season, with polos and simpler tops at the lower end and blouses, dresses and outerwear at the upper end. The design language is the opposite of most performance golf wear: where the category defaults to stretch synthetics and logo placement, Byrdie leans on puffed sleeves, collars, caddie jumpsuits and sleeveless dresses that pass as cocktail attire.
The founders have been direct that this is the entire point. Wates has framed it as a straightforward inequity: men get dressed once, then work, play golf and go to dinner in the same outfit, and there was no reason women could not do the same. The clothes are built so the round is one part of the day rather than a costume change.
That has produced what Wates has called a very large 19th hole clientele. By her estimate roughly half of Byrdie's customers are buying the pieces for riding in a cart, for the club, or for the parts of golf that happen away from the course entirely. For a golf apparel brand, having half your buyers not really playing golf in your product could be a problem. For Byrdie it is the business model.
The collaborations are the real signal
This is where a brand at rank 153 starts to look larger than its search volume.
In 2023 Byrdie partnered with Cole Haan on a limited-edition women's golf collection, producing the ZERØGRAND Fairway Golf Shoe at $170 and the ØriginalGrand Shortwing Oxford Golf Shoe at $210. Cole Haan's brand president framed the pairing as two companies with the same mission, bridging fashion, comfort and performance. That is a 90-year-old footwear company choosing a two-year-old golf label.
Since then the list has grown. There is a Dolce Vita X Byrdie Golf collection, and a his-and-hers terrycloth collaboration with Sugarloaf Social Club, another brand DORMIED tracks, aimed squarely at the poolside end of country club life. Earlier work included sun hats designed with the Australian luxury label Lorna Murray.
The retail placement matters as much. Byrdie stocks through Shopbop, which is a fashion channel rather than a golf channel, and the brand has been picked up by Over The Moon. Vogue has taken notice. In 2023 Byrdie was one of nine companies invited into the small business marketplace at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.
A brand that sells through Shopbop and collaborates with Cole Haan and Dolce Vita is not really competing with golf apparel companies. It is competing in fashion, using golf as the occasion.
Why it matters
Women's golf apparel has been an underbuilt category for a long time, generally addressed by major brands as a smaller-sized version of the men's line in a narrower colour range. Byrdie is one of a small group of brands designed by women who play, for women who play, with no obligation to look like anything already on the rack.
The Index says it is still small. The collaboration list says the fashion industry disagrees about how small it will stay. Those two things are not in conflict; search interest is a lagging indicator for a brand whose customers are finding it through Shopbop and Vogue rather than through Google.
FAQ
What is Byrdie Golf?
Byrdie Golf Social Wear is a women's golf and lifestyle apparel brand based in Charlotte, North Carolina, selling dresses, skirts, skorts, tops, jumpsuits and accessories designed to be worn on the golf course and afterwards.
Who founded Byrdie Golf?
Rachelle Wates and Hayden Hendrix, who met working at the Charlotte specialty retailer Capitol. Wates had been a buyer there for seven years and Hendrix was director of product development at resort wear brand Coco Shop. Both learned golf from their grandmothers, who are the brand's stated inspiration. Early coverage refers to them by their maiden names, Williams and Shoffner.
When was Byrdie Golf founded?
2021, with the idea forming during the pandemic and the brand's first significant press coverage arriving in 2022.
Where is Byrdie Golf based?
Charlotte, North Carolina, where the clothes are designed. Production is in South America.
How much does Byrdie Golf cost?
Roughly $40 to $215 depending on the piece and the point in the season, with polos and simpler tops at the lower end and blouses, dresses and outerwear at the upper end.
Where can you buy Byrdie Golf?
Through the brand's own site at byrdiegolfsocial.com, and through fashion retailers including Shopbop and Over The Moon.
Has Byrdie Golf collaborated with other brands?
Yes. Cole Haan on a limited-edition golf shoe collection in 2023, sun hats with Australian label Lorna Murray, a Dolce Vita collection, and a his-and-hers terrycloth range with Sugarloaf Social Club.
Is Byrdie Golf only for golfers?
No, and the founders say so openly. They estimate roughly half of customers buy the pieces for the club, the cart, or occasions away from the course. The brand describes itself as country club apparel for the modern woman rather than performance golf wear.
Is Byrdie Golf growing?
By DORMIED's tracking, Byrdie ranks 153rd of 215 brands with 1,300 monthly global searches, up 14.3 percent over three months. It remains small in search terms, though its retail and collaboration profile is larger than that rank suggests.
Track Byrdie's monthly movement on the Byrdie Golf brand page and the full market on the DORMIED Index. Related coverage: What Is Students Golf?
