Inside Team USA’s Solheim Cup Style with Billy Draddy

All images courtesy of Summit Golf Brands.

By Mackenzie Puryear

There’s something about representing your country in competition that creates a special sense of pride. That pride isn’t limited to the players; it extends to everyone involved, including the outfitters. This year, at the Solheim Cup held at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands, Team USA will be outfitted by Summit Golf Brands’ labels B. Draddy and Zero Restriction. At the center of the design process is Billy Draddy, who worked alongside his design partner, Senior Vice President of Ladies Design Kristen Casner, to create a collection that balances comfort, history, and national pride—all while looking chic, obviously.

He shares the story behind the collection, how Captain Angela Stanford’s input shaped the uniforms, the significance of showcasing Draddy Sport for women on one of golf’s biggest stages, and why the right apparel can become a player’s “15th club in the bag.”

What does the opportunity to outfit Team USA mean to you personally, and then also to B. Draddy?

Well, in terms of me personally, it's one of these rare opportunities where what you're designing is getting used for something more than just going out to play a regular round of golf. You're representing our country in international competition—stuff you never even think about when you decide to start designing clothes. But it really does have a special meaning, and I always cherish the opportunity to do it.

And for B. Draddy, it's especially incredible for us because we just launched our women's line a couple years ago. This is really the first opportunity we’ve had to put it onto the best players in the world. That's always an incredible experience—and for the general public to get to see it. It’s very, very cool.

How did the design process begin, and what role did you play in developing this collection?

I do have a partner in this process. Her name is Kristen Casner. But we are a very small design department. It's actually two people, so we work very closely together. The process really started with Kristen putting together a loose script of what it could look like for a week's worth of outfits, and that's always the starting point.

We try and incorporate the things that we know people like to wear. But also, with the B. Draddy ladies' line being so new, we had to develop some special things to outfit someone for seven days.

Seven days is actually a lot of outfits!

Yes. Can you imagine packing for seven days without any repeats? So there are a lot of new things that we put in there. Then you get the captain's reaction, and it really starts blossoming from there.

What was the creative vision behind this collection?

With the creative direction, you have to take into account where the event's going to be. Which, for me, is actually more fun because you get to add in layers … when you start to add in layers, that's what really makes it exciting. So giving the opportunity for [the collection] to have many different options was really the goal.

And for me, it's always about making the player comfortable, because I can't imagine myself—now, I'm a designer, so what I wear is really important to me—but I can't imagine going out to the first tee and not feeling great about what I'm wearing. So, it's always about giving options that will make all of the players comfortable.

What were Angela Stanford's priorities for the uniforms? Do you have an example of anything that maybe changed because of her input?

For sure. She—I love this direction—really wanted to incorporate details from the successful USA teams that have won. So, there are details from the 2015 team, the 2007 team, and the 1996 team. The first three days are all kind of homages to each of those individual teams.

Now, it wasn't that we took what they wore and copied it. We pulled a design detail from each of those individual teams. In 2015, they had this stars-and-stripes pattern that kind of went all over the shirts. So on the ladies' skirts this year, there's a stars-and-stripes detail to it.

The 2007 team had these red, white, and blue stripes down their shirt, so we incorporated that detail into the layering pieces. And then the 1996 team, which was really the biggest departure, had a navy-and-khaki story, which takes us away from the red, white, and blue theme. It’s only really been more recently that people have stayed so strict to the red, white, and blue. I think it's a great little breather, and we incorporated this navy-and-khaki color story into an outfit.

In terms of all the teams we've done, this has really been the most input that we've received, and I think it's also really cool. It gives you something to talk about.

How do B. Draddy and Zero Restriction work together to make it look like one cohesive collection?

We do both collections, so it's more a matter of making sure that we use the same color standards. In Draddy, we might have a different navy standard than what we use in Zero Restriction, so we just make sure those things are aligned.

That’s probably the easiest part of the process because you're having a conversation with yourself. It's like being a character actor. You have a certain person in your head when you think about each of the customers. It actually forces you to create differentiation in each of the collections.

What role did player testing and feedback play in the process, and did anything change as a result?

We sent Captain Stanford all of our products for her to wear-test, and anything that she didn't feel comfortable with—there wasn't a lot—we would factor that into what we proposed.

But the reason why we've been selected is because, for the last couple of years, the players have really felt comfortable in what we deliver. Especially on the performance side of things, when the weather starts to get bad, we really have the gear that players want to have. We've seen that both in the Solheim Cup and the other team championships that we do.

It's kind of like a 15th club in the bag, where once the weather turns, they've got gear that is going to hopefully perform better than the opponents.

The Solheim Cup will be contested September 11–13 at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands. Angela Stanford will captain Team USA, while Anna Nordqvist leads Team Europe. The Americans will defend the Cup after reclaiming it in 2024, while Europe will look to win it back on home soil.