DAKS GOLF, the modern British classic golfwear brand from lifestyle company LF, is strengthening its FW26 outerwear offering with 'Hunting Club Padding,' a collection that gives traditional British hunting culture a contemporary twist. This season, DAKS GOLF is pairing its roots in British heritage with golf performance, while also breaking out its outerwear lineup by when it is worn and what it is worn for.
The strategy is to rework the classic design codes DAKS has built over the years for today's golf environment and the way people dress now, sharpening the brand's signature identity while responding closely to padded-outerwear demand that now runs from early fall through deep winter. According to the company, the fashion market is showing a clear trend of brands reinterpreting their accumulated history for contemporary tastes, and in golfwear, too, consumers are increasingly weighing brand identity and everyday versatility alongside mobility and warmth. In response, the brand focused on bringing DAKS's distinctly British design elements to winter padding, a category that easily becomes homogeneous when driven by function alone.
The collection that encapsulates this direction is Hunting Club Padding. Inspired by Britain's traditional country hunting culture, it reinterprets classic elements such as houndstooth, crests, corduroy and leather in a modern way. Rather than faithfully reproducing traditional huntingwear, it incorporates the demands of golf, a sport involving frequent swings and movement, translating DAKS's signature British style into present-day golfwear.
Hunting Club Padding comprises seven items in total, centered on quilted jackets for men and women. The silhouettes have been streamlined so they can move between the course and everyday life while retaining the mood of classic huntingwear, and a modified quilting that departs from the standard diamond pattern adds a modern feel.
The mobility and practicality golfwear requires are also built in. Men's styles feature an Action Band at the shoulders for comfortable arm and shoulder movement during the swing, while women's styles include string details that allow the shape to be adjusted to suit different body types and styles.
In terms of materials and warmth, corduroy and leather are used throughout to bring out a classic mood and premium texture, while a dimensional rib-structured fabric adds natural variation to the surface. Thinsulate performance insulation, chosen for both light wear and warmth, makes the pieces easy to wear on the course as well as in daily life.
According to the company, hunting-motif padding grew 15% from September through early October compared with similar items the previous year, and total outerwear sales rose 15% year-on-year over the same period. Starting with this padding, DAKS GOLF plans to extend hunting-derived design elements across the entire FW26 season, from vests and down outerwear to casual pants.
The brand has also changed how it runs outerwear. This FW season, DAKS GOLF moved up the launch of its lightweight down by two weeks compared with last year to meet outerwear demand that begins in early fall, and broke out its outerwear assortment into more than 1.5 times as many categories as the previous year. Moving away from an assortment centered on lightweight padding and midwinter down, it now varies materials, insulation and weight according to when the pieces are worn, the activity and the level of warmth needed.
Following Hunting Club Padding, the brand will roll out the mid-to-lightweight outerwear line 'Soft Attitude' and the midwinter line 'DAKS Royal.' These product groups offer differing levels of warmth and comfort as the seasons change, with the aim of covering a wide range of wearing conditions from early fall through deep winter.
"This season, we focused on showcasing more vividly the British heritage DAKS has built over many years, tailored to today's golfwear," said a DAKS GOLF representative at LF. "Starting with Hunting Club Padding, we will consistently carry forward the brand's unique design identity while breaking out our outerwear lineup by season and activity to give customers a wider range of choices."
