Juniper & James, a new Southern golf apparel company created by MB native James Elledge, has launched its inaugural collection of performance golf apparel to provide the best hot climate gear for golfers. Founded in the Texas Hill Country Juniper & James takes inspiration from hunting and fishing gear to bring a little grit to the game of golf.
Juniper & James’ performance polos and golf shorts offer UPF50+ sun protection, active wicking, and rapid drying qualities. The performance polos are made with a proprietary jersey fabric that keeps skin up to five degrees cooler.
The brand’s collection of accessories includes belts designed in collaboration with Zilker Belts and golf hats featuring the brand’s Blue Heron and double J Hook logos. The one-of-a-kind collectible belts are constructed by hand in Buenos Aires with Argentine saddle leather and nylon thread. Hats are available in various colors and styles, from performance to mesh back trucker to woven rope hats.
Juniper & James is now available to shop online and soon at retail stores and pro shops across the South. The first retail partnership with Gruene Outfitters at The Station, a high-end menswear shop, showcases a capsule of the gear in the brand’s hometown. The company also offers group orders and custom embroidered apparel for everything from sharp, logoed company attire to golf tournament swag bag merch.
A golfer who can be found in a duck blind or on a skiff looking for Redfish when not on the course, James Elledge launched Juniper & James after struggling to find golf shirts that could hold up to a 102 degree round without sacrificing style. Juniper & James is named for Elledge’s one-year-old twin babies. OTMJ asked Elledge a few questions about this start up.
How did you get into apparel design?
Two partners and I started a hunting and fishing apparel brand called Duck Camp in 2017. None of us had experience in performance apparel, but we learned a lot and scrapped our way up to scale. Building that brand from scratch made me think more critically about my golf apparel and how the golf world doesn’t have a truly southern brand. I went on to work for King Ranch, mainly focused on their King Ranch Saddle Shop business and its hunting apparel. All the while I was playing a good amount of golf, and couldn’t find polos, shorts and pants with premium quality breathable fabrics and an athletic fit. So I decided to start a company to solve this problem with a focus on the southern gentleman.
When did you go to Mountain Brook High School and The University of Alabama and where did you go after that?
I graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 2007, had a short stint playing football at Vanderbilt and finished my undergrad at the University of Alabama. I found a job with a startup vodka company called Deep Eddy Vodka and moved to Austin, TX right after the tornado hit Tuscaloosa and our class graduated unexpectedly in the spring of 2011. Deep Eddy is where I cut my teeth in marketing, and being a part of that explosive growth company really ignited my entrepreneurial spirit.
Where is home now?
My wife, twin babies (Juniper and James) and I call New Braunfels, TX home. We live in a historic district called Gruene, just steps away from Texas’ best dancehall: Gruene Hall. We love wheeling the babies down to the hall to catch live music a few times a week. There are also two beautiful rivers near us that we like to play, fly fish and swim in. We visit my Dad and close friends in Birmingham at least once a quarter and always love coming back.
Why apparel and what golf is different about what you are doing than say Peter Millar?
The majority of the biggest golf apparel brands on the market today are general men’s fashion brands that dabble in golf. They’re not truly focused on the golfer’s needs on the course. I wanted to create a true performance golf apparel brand that’s focused on playing the game we love, but also translates over to everyday life — not the other way around. The other differentiator is that we’re hyper focused on the South. As a guy who loves to play golf, hunt and fish, I didn’t feel like any of the golf brands fit my lifestyle. They’re either New England prep style, or west coast “chill” style with surfboards logos, or feature noisy prints that don’t resonate with the guys in the south. So that’s our mission: outfit the southern golfer in the best fabrics and fit for an active + outdoor lifestyle.
