From the Board Room to the Golf Course: The Oral History of @PhilsDressShirt
The untold story of how Mizzen+Main and Phil Mickelson came together to change the game
[Editor’s note: This is a completely satirical piece and does not reflect the views of Phil Mickelson, Mizzen+Main, other golfers, other athletes, or any other individuals depicted herein.]
Unless you live under a rock or are a cotton dress shirt, you may remember having read the news on several different websites or scrolling through tweets about Phil Mickelson not exactly wearing traditional golf apparel for his practice round at The Masters. Many applauded the move, others weren’t quite sure what to make of the fashion statement, and sadly, some chose harsh criticism as their method of coping with Mickelson’s decision to push his comfort and performance to historic new levels. Frankly, compared to what the golfers wore in The Legend of Bagger Vance, he looked more stylish, more comfortable, and more capable of playing elite-level golf than Rannulph Junuh ever did. And in a day and age when most golfers have turned their backs on even having collars in their polo shirts anymore, Phil went the opposite direction and asked for more buttons. But he didn’t stop there. On Wednesday evening, Darren Rovell broke the news of Mickelson signing the most innovative endorsement deal of his career.
In case you’re not familiar with his golf shirt of choice, the brand is called Mizzen+Main (you can access their website by clicking HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE). They’re cut and sewn in America, the company is headquartered out of Dallas, Texas, and they make the greatest dress shirt you will ever wear. According to Twitter, Mizzen+Main is the best of advanced performance fabrics with the refined look of traditional menswear. They are the choice of athletes, entrepreneurs, and game changers, including Phil Mickelson. Tradition. Evolved. But how did Phil and Mizzen+Main come together? Why now? Was the whole thing intricately orchestrated? And did they foresee it garnering this much media attention?
This is the oral history of Phil Mickelson and Mizzen+Main teeing it up together.
Chapter I. “I need to find a dress shirt that performs as well as I do.”
The greatest dress shirt on earth is hard to find, even for Phil Mickelson. Combining style, comfort, performance, and durability is not an easy task. Fortunately, Kevin Lavelle, the Founder and CEO of Mizzen+Main made it his mission to do just that.
Kevin Lavelle: You know, I get asked this question all the time and I never get tired of answering it. It was the lightbulb moment for the company I’ve devoted my life to. When I worked in Washington D.C., I saw some guy on a hot day go into a meeting drenched in sweat. How can you go into a meeting looking like you just walked out of a pool? You can’t. You’ve got to look good, and you’ve got to feel good. Cotton blocks you from all of that.
Phil Mickelson: Unfortunately, I know what Kevin’s talking about far too well. I golf for a living and we’re not allowed to wear shorts on the course. It gets hot out there. I sweat a lot. Now I don’t concern myself too much with the copious amounts of sweat because I’m 47, soon to be 48, and when I do sweat it’s because I’m physically exerting myself playing golf, but I still want to look and feel good. Besides, my body is no longer like that of a young Rickie Fowler. To be honest, I’m not even sure he sweats.
Rickie Fowler: Yeah, Phil has a point. I’m lean and mean with minimal body fat and body hair, for that matter. And I certainly don’t sweat like Gramps. He’s right.
Mickelson: Wait a moment. Did that little bad mustache boy just call me Gramps?
Fowler: I see what you did there and I respect it. Jab for jab. Well played good sir.
Mickelson: Despite my comfort in my own skin, there is still a time and place for looking professional on the golf course, in my opinion. When I see some of these guys on our Tour not caring that their golf shirts look like someone just dumped a bucket of water all over them, I’m stunned. Enough was enough for me though. I knew I needed a dress shirt that performs on par with my golf game.
Lavelle: Enter Mizzen+Main. Our dress shirts are made out of performance fabric. These aren’t the shiny, polyester shirts your weird uncle wore in the 1970’s. This is 22nd century level. Our shirts breathe, stretch, and wick away moisture. They require no ironing, no dry cleaning, and are machine washable.
Chapter II. “What is Mizzen+Main? Aren’t those sailing terms!?! Anyways, I just need to try their shirts.”
Once Phil was made aware of Mizzen+Main, he was intrigued and knew he needed to give their shirts a try for himself.
Mickelson: The memory is a little foggy. I’m not even sure I could tell you where exactly I first heard of Mizzen+Main. Maybe it was Mark Cuban. It might have been on one of Tim Ferriss’ podcasts. Or it could have been one of those viral online commercials they did with Tim Tebow.
Tim Tebow: Hey, from one Lefty to another, I’m honored. If Phil upgraded his wardrobe as a direct result of my internship, then job well-done.
Mickelson: Come to think of it, I may have first taken notice seeing Cuban wear one of them on Shark Tank.
Anonymous Mizzen+Main Employee: Randomly one day, we get this email from a Phil Mickelson asking about our dress shirts. I run down the hall into Kevin’s office and ask him if he thinks this is the real Phil Mickelson.
Lavelle: At first, I wasn’t entirely sure. Scam emails have become much more sophisticated these days as we’re no longer dealing with the Nigerian Prince wanting to give you money just because and you really need to be careful of what you open. And I gotta tell you, the AOL email address kind of threw me off. I guess I always sort of pegged Phil as more of an Outlook kind of guy.
Mickelson: I get asked a lot about creating a Gmail account. I think I’m just partial to PhilMickelsonKPMG@aol.com — I’ve always liked it.
Lavelle: His email just basically indicated he wanted to try our product. Not only for business meetings and date nights with Amy, but he was greatly interested in seeing how our shirts would hold up on the golf course. So I decided to call him personally.
Mickelson: I’m honestly just blown away with the company as a whole. They put professionalism into everything they do. Their interactions with you, their physical product, just everything.
Chapter III. “The birth of @PhilsDressShirt.”
Step one: choose the collection. Step two: choose your shirt. Step three: get it ready for Phil.
Lavelle: He loved our shirts. On one hand, you’re not surprised because you know you make the greatest and world’s most comfortable dress shirts, but on the other hand, it’s Phil Mickelson. The guy who has won 5 golf major championships actually loves your shirts and wants to wear them.
Mickelson: They were great. Not only were they so comfortable, but I could literally wear them anywhere I wanted. Go play a quick 9 holes — wear Mizzen+Main. Have a business meeting — wear Mizzen+Main. Take Amy to dinner — wear Mizzen+Main. Film a couple new commercials — wear Mizzen+Main. Grill burgers on my Traeger — wear Mizzen+Main. Watch Netflix — wear Mizzen+Main. Usually when I get home I change into something a little more comfortable, but now that I’ve found Mizzen+Main, I feel like I don’t want to take the shirt off.
Lavelle: The next piece of the puzzle was for us to decide which specific shirt he wanted so we could get one personally branded for him in the event Phil decided to show this off on Tour.
Mickelson: Choosing the right club, reading the correct amount of break, or deciding whether or not to go for the shot from the pine straw, these are all easy decisions for me. But when it came to picking my shirt, this was a hard one. They have so many great shirts. First, I had to decide on the right collection. The Spinnaker Collection is their original advanced performance line made from their highest stretch fabric that bears unique wrinkle resistant qualities. But then their Leeward Collection has a more traditional look and feel while crafted from incredibly lightweight fabric with superior quick dry properties.
Lavelle: Once Phil indicated he wanted our Leeward Collection, I kind of had a feeling he would go with Kennedy. From there, we just needed to add some branding for him in order to get it ready.
Mickelson: When the shirt arrived, I marveled at it for a little while. It looked great, it felt great on me, and I just knew I had made the right choice. @PhilsDressShirt was born and I was thrilled.
Chapter IV. “The soft unveiling.”
Folks speculated there was this underground, secret meeting between Mickelson and Mizzen+Main to hash out every single detail of their master plan to unveil @PhilsDressShirt at Augusta National Golf Club, but honestly, it was all Phil. The man is a genius and a gambler, and he loves to goad the golf world and have some fun with them.
Lavelle: It’s true. No master plan on our part. We made him a standard fit dress shirt with sponsors stitched on the chest and sleeve with little to no likelihood he’d ever actually wear it at a professional golf tournament.
Mickelson: I get bored at times and I like to stir the pot. I’m a risk-taker. Heading into this year’s Masters, I really wanted to have some fun with the golf world and all our media members. Plus, I saw an opportunity to mess with the entire sports world and set social media ablaze.
Lavelle: When I heard Phil’s plan, I was shocked but in a good way. I couldn’t stop smiling. I told my wife. I even sent a text message to one of our founders, Web Smith.
Web Smith: As soon as Kevin text me, I was like: YES!!! I was the founding Chief Marketing Officer of Mizzen+Main and I am a proud owner. I love the brand and everything Kevin’s doing with it. Mickelson’s plan was amazing so I had my Twitter thumbs ready because I knew it would be a tweet-heavy day.
Mickelson: I was imagining the Rovell Twitter headlines in my mind: Tradition Evolved Meets A Tradition Unlike Any Other.
Darren Rovell: That’s good, that’s real good from Phil. I actually wish I would have thought of that headline myself.
Mickelson: But yes, back to my master plan or “diabolical plan to tarnish golf” as some of the Twitter eggs have eloquently put it. Basically I just did a little brainstorming. My first thought was, before I even unveil the dress shirt, what can I do to generate the most buzz possible?!? And then it hit me: Tiger Woods. And boy did I have a smile as perfect as The Grinch himself.
Tiger Woods: As I’ve said multiple times now, Phil came in to register and asked Joey if we were free for a game. We talked about it and decided to play. I had no prior knowledge of his apparel plans, but I have to give the man credit. This was well-thought-out by Phil and honestly, I loved playing with him as he wore that thing.
Mickelson: My plan was slowly hatching. Tiger. Check. And his Twitter tracker guy helped out by generating some buzz of his own with his tweet.
Lavelle: We could already feel the anticipation building. What an exciting moment for our team at Mizzen+Main.
Mickelson: I had set the stage perfectly and all that was needed next was to walk out in @PhilsDressShirt. From there, let Rovell and Twitter have at it.
Rovell: Augusta National. Phil and Tiger playing a practice round together. Phil wearing a long-sleeve, button down dress shirt. It’s the stuff Twitter dreams are made of.
Lavelle: It was quite the day.
Smith: The Brand, man. So proud of them. Enough said.
Mickelson: As I told people that day, it’s a stretchy fabric. It performs well, and I think it looks good.
Woods: Oh, I gave him a hard time alright. All Phil was missing was the tie.
Chapter V. “The aftermath.”
What started as Phil just having a little fun quickly became something so much greater. A real opportunity existed for both parties. For Mizzen+Main: the chance to grow your brand in exponential ways. For Mickelson: an incredible investment opportunity, the chance to become the best-dressed golfer on the PGA Tour, and the comfort and confidence of knowing you’re attempting to win golf tournaments in the greatest shirt ever made.
Rovell: Even during the Masters, I shared my views on what an opportunity Mizzen+Main had in front of them if somehow they could strike a partnership with Mickelson.
Lavelle: When the whole team came down off our Masters-high, we really began to ponder what a partnership with Phil could look like.
Mickelson: I took a gamble, and it paid off at the Masters during that practice round just like I knew it would. In the back of my mind, was I thinking something was going to come out of this between Mizzen+Main and me? Well, I knew there was a chance. Did I want that? Absolutely, without a doubt.
JJ Watt: I reached out to Phil. I wanted to thank him. By just wearing our shirt, he made an incredible impact on the brand.
Mickelson: JJ is a great guy. It spoke volumes to have him reach out personally like he did. Now I’m not quite as hip when it comes to the direct messages or DM’s as the kids call them, so it took me 11 days to even find the message he sent me, but once my kids showed me how to access them, it was really nice to read what he wrote.
Watt: Following my DM’s with Phil, I told Kevin, whatever I could do to help Mizzen+Main with Mickelson, just let me know. I want that man on our team.
Lavelle: JJ’s presence was huge. I mean literally he’s a big guy so when he’s standing there beside you he’s huge, but what he did to help us with Phil only confirmed why we love him so much and why he’s a great asset to the brand.
Mickelson: After conversing with JJ a bit, before I took any meetings with Kevin, I wanted to talk with Amy and get her thoughts.
Amy Mickelson: I love Mizzen+Main I told him. No more ironing. No more dry cleaning. No more cotton. Machine washable.
Mickelson: I called Kevin right away and said let’s meet up.
Amy Mickelson: With the moisture wicking, Phil’s going to feel better in dress shirts, and with the four way stretch capabilities, the shirts are literally going to feel better to touch.
Lavelle: I won’t disclose the exact location of where we met, but let’s just say there was conversation, some golf, laughter, a few cigars, and some Pappy.
Mickelson: It was fun. I enjoyed my time with Kevin. We’re family men, businessmen, and at our core, guys who are passionate about doing stuff really, really well.
Lavelle: When we shook hands, I knew what we were getting out of this partnership. With Phil, we have the chance of a lifetime to grow Mizzen+Main in exponential ways. The man is a golf legend; one of the greatest of all time. He’s going to be wearing our brand and talking about it, and there will be millions of people watching on television learning about who we are and what we do. It’s incredible.
Mickelson: When we shook hands, I knew what I was getting out of this partnership. This is for sure an incredible investment opportunity. Not to mention, hands-down I will be the best-dressed golfer on Tour. You take pride in that.
Lavelle: Virtually every single golf fan loves Phil. He’s beloved. Having someone at this level demonstrate so clearly the performance capabilities of our dress shirts while competing is absolutely phenomenal.
Mickelson: As Nick Faldo now famously commented on CBS, when he referenced Imagine Dragons: welcome to the new age. I’m a trendsetter baby.
Woods: [Laughs.] Did he just say trendsetter? Yeah, I guess you could call it that. [Smirks.]
Mickelson: Two things. One, I guarantee you, if he hasn’t already, Tiger is going to try wearing Mizzen+Main at some point. Two, I think you shouldn’t knock Mizzen+Main until you try Mizzen+Main. It’s the best stuff out there.
Chapter VI. “The time is now. Let’s do this.”
@PhilsDressShirt had a nice coming-out party at The Masters and enjoyed his time in the spotlight, but he was hungry for more. And when the news broke that Tiger, Phil, and Rickie would be paired together in the first two rounds of The Players Championship, all parties involved knew TPC at Sawgrass was the perfect backdrop to reveal the partnership between Mickelson and Mizzen+Main.
@PhilsDressShirt: I loved my time in the sun at The Masters, but I’ve been patiently waiting for my next turn. It gets lonely in the closest and I’m ready to shine.
Mickelson: I kept having to remind him that patience is a virtue. He gets a lot of time in the board room and on date nights, but I know he’s been chomping at the bit ever since Augusta to get back out there on the course.
@PhilsDressShirt: Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a really enjoyable last month or so. I love the Twitter account, it’s been fun going back and forth with that Tiger tracker guy, and social media is fun, but my passion is showing off what I am capable of doing during a golf round.
Lavelle: The news was breaking on the eve of the tournament. We knew that for sure. Rovell was going to break the story.
Rovell: I was excited to say the least.
@PhilsDressShirt: I knew the news would be big, but I wasn’t sure how big it was going to be. People had already kind of made a big deal at The Masters, but Boss was convinced this announcement would get folks talking again for sure.
Mickelson: The “fifth major” in golf. Can you think of a better venue for news like this!?! Plus, I was paired with Rickie and Tiger, which meant lots of eyeballs would be on us.
Lavelle: It was a long day. Time seemed to stand still. Mizzen+Main is just so extremely pleased with our relationship with Phil and couldn’t wait for the world to know about it.
Smith: I was on the edge of my seat. I even tweeted about it.
@PhilsDressShirt: When Rovell posted his story, I had a sigh of relief. Boss was grinning uncontrollably.
Mickelson: It was a big moment for everyone involved.
@PhilsDressShirt: An unbelievable moment for me. I was now the apparel of choice moving forward for all tournaments. Such pride. It feels good to be worn.
Mickelson: I mean, tell me it’s not the greatest looking dress shirt you’ve ever seen. And for all the doubters or haters out there, try one. Once you go Mizzen+Main, you’re never going back.
@PhilsDressShirt: Boss’ compliments mean the world to me. And how about the signature logo on the shirt cuff! Pretty sweet stuff. Thank you Mizzen+Main!
Lavelle: I can’t argue there. His shirts look awesome!
Chapter VII. “The aftermath remix.”
Once the news was out there, Phil, @PhilsDressShirt, Kevin, and Mizzen+Main knew the next couple days would be a mixed bag. You’ll have your supporters cheering you on no matter what, you’ll have your haters doing everything they can to bring you down, and you’ll have varying degrees of those in between. But they all agreed, focus on what you can control and let the cards fall where they may.
Mickelson: Every single time I tee it up, the goal is to win a golf tournament. Ideally, with the debut of this partnership, winning The Players Championship would have been about the best possible start to this relationship.
@PhilsDressShirt: I’m not lacking in confidence. I know what I’m capable of and I know what Boss can do. Expectations were high this week, but we all knew, in the game of golf, anything can happen.
Mickelson: I made it pretty clear to Kevin and the team that basically one of four things was likely to happen. One, I go out and win the tournament. Two, I don’t win but play extremely well. Three, I play ok. Or four, I go out and shoot an opening round 80 and miss the cut.
Lavelle: Phil explained that the haters were gonna hate no matter what, but that if for some reason he didn’t play very well, every single critic would immediately blame the shirt.
@PhilsDressShirt: If things went sour, I knew hatred and criticism would come flying my way in a hurry.
Mickelson: It’s the risk you take with any gamble. Some pay off right away. Others take time. As I’ve told Kevin multiple times, I’m in this for the long haul. A poor performance or sharp criticism hasn’t stopped me before.
Lavelle: One of the first things he reminded us all was how people used to say he’d never win a golf major. He had so many near misses and critics believed he lacked the game and mindset for major golf championships. Now he has 3 green jackets, a Wanamaker Trophy, and a Claret Jug.
@PhilsDressShirt: Boss has my back and I have his.
Mickelson: The long-sleeves seem to be a major hangup for a lot of people. Honestly, I don’t get it. Years ago, golfers not only wore long-sleeves but jackets and ties. But as I said before, to anyone with hangups, don’t criticize it until you wear Mizzen+Main. Personally, I feel phenomenal in the long-sleeves. But we have short-sleeves too, and polos and stuff. This stuff is stretchy. You don’t even know it’s on. It’s very comfortable. So I actually really like it.
Lavelle: And we can’t thank Phil enough. Day one, the results were incredible for Mizzen+Main.
Mickelson: ROI, it’s important to me too. I think nobody does kind of slightly overweight middle-aged guy better than me, and this says exactly who I am. I don’t know what to say. I’m really happy with it. At 47 years old, I’ve found the perfect shirt for me.
Chapter VIII. “The future is exceedingly bright.”
What comes next is yet to be seen, but based on the upward trajectory of both Mizzen+Main’s business and Phil Mickelson’s career thus far, greatness is in store. And who knows, there might be some really neat possibilities on the horizon.
@PhilsDressShirt: For me, every opportunity I get to be out on the course with Phil will be a blessing, and I will count them each and every single day.
Lavelle: Mizzen+Main has come a long way since the days of Dan Bailey playing guitar at our shop on N High Street in Columbus, Ohio.
Dan Bailey: Wait a minute…Did I just get a mention in The Oral History of @PhilsDressShirt?
@PhilsDressShirt: I have absolutely no idea who you are Dan, but from the looks of your pictures on social media, you appear to be one insanely fit individual.
Mickelson: I know some of Kevin’s plans, but I’m sure he’s got some pretty incredible stuff up his sleeves as well. And I do too.
Lavelle: Indeed we do. And there are a lot of what-if’s too.
Mickelson: You mean like what if I become the oldest player ever to win The Masters? Or what if I one day become the oldest player to a win a major period? Or what if I finally win that elusive U.S. Open? Are those the what-if’s you were referencing there, Kevin?
Lavelle: The green jacket and Mizzen+Main combo will be pretty fantastic!
Mickelson: And what if one day I’m the United States Ryder Cup captain. I wonder if Mizzen+Main might just happen to be the uniform sponsor!
