An idea is a funny thing. Once it's planted, it grows fast, until everything else fades into the background.
"Avenu" had been sitting in my Notes app for years, next to a hundred other scribbles, including more swing thoughts than I'd like to admit. I liked the feeling of the word long before I knew what it would become. To me it meant movement, different paths, different places, the idea that the best days rarely stay in one lane.
But the brand didn't exist yet. That came a few months ago, all at once.
It started after a round of golf. My friend Richie, owner of Rat Bag Store, and I had just finished at North Shore Golf Club. Sun still high, so we grabbed a pint and found a table overlooking the course.
Then Richie asked a simple question.
"When are you going to start something?"
That was the nudge.
I've always had an appreciation for hats. They're one of the few things you can wear every day without anyone thinking twice, and the right one changes how an outfit feels before anything else has a chance to speak.
Golf has its own look, and the big brands nail it: Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade. You wear them to play, then take them off when you leave. Nothing wrong with that. Style's subjective.
I wanted something different, a hat I could wear to the course, grab a coffee after, and keep wearing wherever the rest of the day went. Once that idea was in my head, I couldn't stop seeing it. Every round, every coffee after, every outfit reminded me the hat I wanted didn't exist yet.
So I had to make it.
I grew up playing football, it taught me discipline, and what it means to be part of a team. In between, I was always skating. That's where style first mattered to me. Not the tricks, not the board, the clothes, how they fit, how they made me feel. On the days I felt good in what I was wearing, I skated with more confidence. Confidence gives you a foundation. When you believe in yourself, you stop overthinking and start trusting what you've practiced.
Then golf came along, and I realised it wasn't so different from skating. Both are built on tiny details, repeated until they become second nature. Get one small thing wrong, balance, timing, posture, and everything else has to compensate.
That mindset follows me into everything I build now. Progress rarely comes from one big breakthrough. It comes from refining the small things until they work together.
Golf is changing. A new generation of golfers isn't afraid to express themselves, and streetwear is finding its place on the course. Golf style is becoming less about tradition, more about personality.
That's what Avenu became for me. Not just a hat, something that gives people the same quiet confidence I found through skating, football, and now golf. Something that feels right before you've even stepped onto the first tee.
We're building pieces that move effortlessly between golf and everyday life. Designed for the course, never limited to it.
This first collection is just the beginning. Plenty of ideas left, plenty of mistakes still to make.
Thanks for being here early.