How Three Friends Came Together to Make Golf Shoes for All
A new golf shoe brand has entered the chat.
Called Goodluck Golf Mfg. Co., the new company founded earlier this year is the brainchild of three longtime friends – Karl Sjöström, Joshua Kopeika and Michael Miano – who met years ago while attending the Savannah College or Art and Design (SCAD).
“We are really excited to build a product story that has this individual point of view that felt both a little bit vintage and a little bit modern, a sort of contextualized heirloom,” Miano said in an interview with FN. “We also have this idea of good luck and the idea of inclusion, positivity and camaraderie. It’s really to reflect the brotherhood and friendship that we’re building together.”
The founding team – who now reside in Los Angeles (Kopeika), New York (Miano), and Sweden (Sjöström) – sparked the idea for Goodluck entirely remotely in early 2022, when the world was starting to crawl out of the post-COVID era and Karl was planning a golf trip to meet Michael. “After we all scattered after graduating from SCAD, we started planning golf trips as a way to catch up,” Miano said. “It was a way for us to be present for big milestones and share our love of golf, now even as dads.”
“But every time we were together, we felt like we didn’t feel ourselves on the course,” Sjöström added. “It was like we were wearing someone else’s clothes during golf and afterwards, we’d change into what we felt was us. We didn’t understand why it had to be one or the other.”
The first Goodluck Golf Mfg. Co. collection consists of two core golf shoe styles – the GL1 and GL2. The unisex styles are designed to be worn by all golfers across a wide range of skill levels. Available in a wide range of sizes, the shoes are made on a universal last meant for wear on and off the course, all terrain and all weather.
As for the collection’s design details, the company’s GL1 shoe, which retails for $238, draws inspiration from golf culture in the late ‘90s to early ‘00s. Reminiscent of a dress shoe, the upper is made of pebble grain leather and features a recycled EVA midsole, a textured rubber toe cover, suede inner heel lining, padded nylon collar, lateral mudguard and a removable cover guard kiltie.
The brand’s GL2 is inspired by classic athletic sneaker and features an asymmetric design made to protect and straighten pivot points and lateral movement. The shoe includes a monotone leather upper combined with a stamped crocodile leather outer, as well as a Vibram leather outsole, recycled EVA midsole, pivot toe bumper, shielded lace holes, triple eyelets for heel lock and a suede heel lining.
The Goodluck GL1 and GL2 are available for pre-order at Goodluck.golf. Orders are expected to ship 6 to 8 weeks after the pre-order window closes.
This launch comes as golf shoe market continues to heat up as more Americans continue to flock to the sport following its rise in popularity during the pandemic.
This spike in participation has translated to a big bump in golf shoe sales, too. According to Circana’s retail tracking data, golf footwear saw $407.8 million in sales in 2023. And while dollar sales did decline 1 percent last year versus 2022, the market is still 48 percent larger compared to pre-pandemic 2019 when the category reported $275.8 million in sales.