QED and the Sugarhouse Polo were featured yesterday in an online Golf Digest article written by Marty Hackel. Marty is the Fashion Director at Golf Digest and tries to help golfers look both stylish and unique. We are flattered to be a part of the largest golf publication in the world! You can read the article here. For more from Marty, follow him on Twitter @MrStyleMH
We sat down with QED Style Founder and lead designer, Mike McRae to discuss the inspiration for the Alpine Trousers and to find out what makes them so special.
Growing up in Utah, I have learned to enjoy the outdoors and an active lifestyle. I wanted to design a pair that was both functional and comfortable in any environment. That and they had to look good. I mean, how much do you love your favorite pair of pants? I simply wanted to design an active guy’s favorite pair of pants.
Yes, the fabric was taken from my favorite pair of pants growing up. They were a turquoise green pair of Tiger Woods Nike pants. They had a polyester spandex fabric that I hadn’t seen in other pants. I loved how I could bend down to read a putt without the fabric pulling or bunching. The spandex made the pants incredibly comfortable and versatile in many positions. With the Alpine Trousers, I chose the same fabric composition, but I decided to go with nylon rather than polyester. Nylon is a better all-around performance fabric. It has a tougher and stronger feel to it. I didn't want a stretchy pant that would feel like it might tear or break, so the nylon spandex fabric we chose was perfect. Once we chose the fabric, we wanted to elevate it even more. All of our pants' fabric is applied with a water, stain, and wind resistant coating before it is cut. This would make our pants viable for all weather conditions on or off the golf course, any accidental spills, and added warmth in cold weather. The resistance coating sits on the fabric fibers, not in between. This allows for air to still travel through the fabric and be breathable. Perfect!!
It starts with the articulated knee which all QED pants have. You will notice stitching and seams that appear on the front and back of each knee cap. An articulated knee design allows for the leg to bend without having the bottom of the pant to rise. In other words, you could do a squat in our pants and not have the fabric around your ankles rise up. An articulated knee allows for this to happen. In most other pants the fabric in the upper leg will naturally pull and the let bottoms will rise up. Why have this? Again, this allows you to bend your leg in a variety of ways without having the pant leg rise. Not only does this allow for comfort but also helps in keeping socks dry and clean during rainy or muddy conditions and creates an overall better looking and better fitting pant in all positions.
I wanted to put zippers on the hems of our pants to further increase versatility and function. The Alpine trouser has a 6'' zipper hem on the outside of each pant leg which allows for putting on the pants without changing or taking off your shoes. The zipper hem also allows for a much better fit and look when the pant leg is resting on shoes. Additionally, the zipper hem is also lined with a gusset (fabric lining) to maintain closure in the pant leg when the zipper is completely opened. The gusset also prevents mud and water from touching the sock.
Absolutely. Specifically, the waterproof zipper pocket: As a player, I hated when my scorecard or yardage book got wet. We put a waterproof zipper pocket above the back left pocket on the Alpine trouser. The zipper is lined with a completely waterproof tape, and the zipper head enters a garage when completely closed to prevent any chance of water entering the pocket. The waterproof tape is also reflective because we wanted to keep commuters, bikers or any other night activities in mind when making these pants.
Simply stated, QED is short for the latin words “Quod Erat Demonstrandum”, which can be translated to mean “what was to have been demonstrated”. Most commonly, QED is used at the end of math proofs as a sign of closure. The use of QED dates back to early mathematicians such as Archimedes and Euclid. Notably, a black square is used as a symbolic alternative to QED and it serves as the foundation of our logo.
For us, QED represents our search for perfection and our quest for unquestionable style.
Found on the yoke of our Logan Polo, the back our our Alpine shorts, the pattern of the Roy Woven Shirt, the buttons of the Francis Polo, black squares can be found in every one of our pieces. Some are obvious, like the emblem on the back or our shirts and pants, some not so much, like the lining our the Park City Trousers.
We hope you enjoy discovering these Easter Eggs as much as we did incorporating them.
No matter how many shirts you own, we all have a go-to shirt for every occasion. The go-to dress shirt, the go-to golf shirt and the go-to tee shirt. But what exactly is a go-to shirt? It is the one that when in a moment of hesitation you know you can pull down, put on, and feel great. While go-to shirts rotate over time, a good one will have a solid life span. Maybe it’s the Van Halen concert shirt or the polo you picked up at Pinehurst #2, but either way you know it’s money.
As a lifelong fashion slacker, my go-to shirts have included a tee shirt from my favorite watering hole, a golf shirt I picked up at the Masters and a Faconnable dress shirt my wife found at a thrift store (but no one is ever the wiser). However, since I began writing a golf blog a few years ago, my shirt selection has gone through a Jessica Simpson-like increase in size. Hence, I have ditched all of my go-to shirts for new models.
In complete honesty, I can say QED now totally dominates my go-to shirt collection. On the golf side, the Logan Polo gets the pole position for any big round I am playing. It is straight up money. Ridiculously comfortable, perfectly tailored and completely unique. Seriously, I have 45 really nice golf shirts, and I reach for the Logan every time I can.
As a general rule, I probably put on a QED Francis polo 2-3 days a week. I have about 5 that are logoed with Three Guys Golf so it is my defacto uniform. I love the cotton feel and the fact I don’t have to iron them (I don’t do well with irons and I am too cheap to dry clean). The Francis is great because it is hip without being out of place in an office. Hence I can go straight from work to catch a beer with my buddies.
What about shorts and pants? Yep, we all have a pair of those go-to’s as well and currently my QED Alpine shorts and Park City Trousers are in that mix but we will hit that topic another time. Until then, I will keep looking for those red numbers (phone numbers are now a thing of the past).
By Adam Staelin: Editor: Three Guys Golf