Galvin Green

Galvin Green has specialised in multi-layer garments built specifically for golf since 1990, and that single-minded focus is why its rainwear earns its premium. The brand dominates the rainwear sector in the UK and Ireland, which tells you where its reputation is strongest. If you play in earnest through all weather, a Galvin Green shell is a genuinely worthwhile investment; for the occasional fair-weather round, it may be more than you need.

Galvin Green designs and sells multi-layer golf garments, and its credibility was high enough to be selected as a licensee of Ryder Cup Europe for the 40th Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in 2014. Its waterproofs are built around technical fabrics such as Gore-Tex and Gore-Tex Paclite. That blend of golf-specific engineering and serious materials is the foundation of the brand's quality reputation.

Galvin Green is best known for golf rainwear, a category it helped reinvent. In the early 1990s most golfers wore dark, ill-fitting rain suits that turned heavy in the wet, and by 1995 Galvin Green had launched a full range of waterproofs in bright colours with a level of detail never before seen in golf apparel. Today the brand sits among the world's leading golf apparel names and rules the rainwear sector in the UK and Ireland.

After its bright-coloured waterproofs arrived in 1995, Galvin Green delivered a quick run of firsts: half-zip rain jackets, zip-fly trousers, jackets without front pockets, adjustable chest tabs, cuffs with rain channels and stretch fabric in various colour options. These details addressed real problems golfers faced on wet courses. That inventive streak is a big part of why the brand became a category leader.

Galvin Green is a Swedish golf-clothing brand based in Växjö, established in 1990 by entrepreneur Tomas Nilsson. Its Scandinavian roots suit a brand built to handle changeable, often wet weather. That heritage is central to how it positions its rainwear.

Galvin Green is a licensee of Ryder Cup Europe and was chosen to create an "Exclusive Collection" for the 40th Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, Scotland, in September 2014. The collection used cutting-edge materials including Gore-Tex, Gore-Tex Paclite, Windstopper, INSULA and VENTIL8, and featured a distinctive silhouette of the famous Ryder Cup trophy. It remains one of the brand's most prestigious associations.

The brand's golf rain gear is built around Gore-Tex and Gore-Tex Paclite, and its Ryder Cup pieces also drew on Windstopper, INSULA and VENTIL8 fabrics. Each material brings different qualities while delivering the waterproof protection golfers rely on. That technical fabric library is core to how Galvin Green engineers performance.

Galvin Green is sold through golf retail stores, on-course shops and authorised online retailers. Because it is a specialist golf brand, those golf-focused channels are the natural place to look. Buying through authorised retailers is the surest way to get the genuine, current range.

Yes, though it arrived relatively recently. After building its reputation across Europe, Galvin Green entered the U.S. market for the first time in 2013. So American golfers have had access to the brand for over a decade now. If you are shopping stateside, look to authorised golf retailers carrying the line.

It does, with a strong tie to European golf associations. Galvin Green is one of five main sponsors of the PGA of Sweden, and it serves as official clothing supplier to the PGA of Denmark (since 2009) and the PGA of Canada (a multi-year deal signed in 2013), as well as a partner of the PGA of Germany since 2009. These relationships keep the brand close to the professional game it designs for.