Meet Jay Piper | Owner & Creative Director of ParHopper Golf Apparel

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jay Piper and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jay, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
We continue to keep going and growing for one main reason, the relationships the brand creates. When meeting people for the first time or networking in general, everyone is drawn to our brand. The playfulness in the logo and the overall vibe that we put off makes it easy for people to want and be a part of it. We appeal to the new generation of golfers who enjoy cold beer, fresh pours of whiskey and most of all the time on the course spent with their buddies. Each month we grow a little bit more, increasing our brand awareness. We have plenty of individuals who fall in love with our brand are aren’t even golfers, they just enjoy the lifestyle behind it. So for us it’s the reward of seeing people feel like they are part of a brand and not just buying it.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I think what sets us apart the most with our designs are the concepts/originality of them. Our polos for example always have a concept behind them. our most recent being The Game Polo. The Game is a polo covered in typography. The typography is all of the different things some might say on the golf course. This is anything from “I love this game” to “let’s take fireball shots for birdies,” haha. You’ll never see us release a simple pineapple pattern or a flamingo pattern, we put thought and reason behind our designs so that our customers get something truly unique with our product.

Another thing that makes our polos special is we never reprint anything. If we print 100 polos of a pattern, you are 1 of 100 people in the entire world who has that polo. This makes all of our releases special.

I think what we are most excited about currently is our collaborations on our polos. We have polos in production for a local golf lounge, a local brewery and even an NFL wide receiver. We worked with each of these brands/people to release a ParHopper polo that is designed for their brand. We have some really cool patterns you’ll be seeing soon!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Right now some of our favorite places are:

The Local Drive – The premier cocktail bar & golf lounge in the RiNo district of Denver, Colorado featuring a menu of cocktails made with local spirits as well as local beers, seltzers, ciders, and wine. The Local Drive also has 5 custom Trackman golf simulators as well as multiple private event spaces.

Parker Garage – Family-owned and operated since 2014, Parker Garage is a chef-driven restaurant in the heart of downtown Parker. They offer an innovative menu, spacious outdoor patios and an exclusive selection of wine.

RiNo in General – We love the RiNo area in general because of all the breweries, places to eat, the amazing artwork everywhere and the easy walk in between all of it.

So I’d say we would take our friend golfing at The Local Drive to enjoy a round of golf and delicious cocktails followed by a walk through RiNo to different breweries/distilleries to check out artwork and then finish it all off with a dinner at Parker Garage with our good friend Chef Logan Mason.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There’s a few I have to name off when it comes to the growth of this brand. First and foremost my business partner Max Pavelec. Max has been my right hand man with the brand for two years now and helps to keep things intact and growing. Max gives valued criticism to the designs, the marketing strategies and the overall direction of the business growth. He’s also responsible for funding most of ParHopper and that comes from the trust that we have built between the two of us during this partnership. Max is also a little more black and white than me. I’m the more vibrant personality in the partnership and Max helps me keep it balanced and not over the top in the branding/designing.

Aside from my business partner, my biggest thank you goes to my wife, Skylar. She sees more of the hard work behind the scenes than anyone else involved with this brand and encourages it daily. She also puts up with having our gear stored all throughout our house and even helps ship out packages! Skylar has seen the growth of our brand from the very start to now and is my biggest critic when it comes to designing things for the brand. That, I am thankful for.

Next is our ParHopper customers. Anyone who has ever purchased anything from our brand, whether it was a simple sticker or one of our polos, THANK YOU! You guys decide if our products are worth buying. Thank you to all of you for your continued support for this brand.

Our ambassadors play a big role as well. We have over 30 ambassadors, all in different parts of the country and even one in Canada. They do an amazing job representing the brand at golf tournaments, golfing with their friends, showing off the apparel to their social following and also helping withParHopper is bringing into it. Our team would not be complete without them.

Our production teams of course. The men and women behind the construction of our hats, polos, golf balls, you name it. We have several vendors we work with for each of our different products and each are a crucial component in our brand.

Last but certainly not least are our local partners. Just to name a few.. The Local Drive, The Back Nine and Lone Tree Brewing. We have these partners who help us with doing events together, apparel collabs and letting us display our gear at their storefront. We are currently working on several other local partnerships and believe these relationships have helped us grow faster than anything else. To the original businesses who chose to work with us, you guys rock.

Website: https://parhopper.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialparhopper/