We were lucky to catch up with Jonny Hoffner recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jonny thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Since 2008, I have made a living as a photographer and starting in 2022, as a co-founder of the golf brand: Good Lion Golf. Any creative endeavor involves an incredible amount of vulnerability: it is a natural extension and expression of ideas one holds dear. It is risky business to make an idea manifest and send it out into the world where it can be accepted, rejected, loved or criticized.
When we launched Good Lion Golf, predicated on the mantra GOOD > SAFE, it was smack dab in the middle of a global pandemic and we started with three items I had never before seen on the course: a denim golf hat, golfing jumpsuit and a gold necklace with a ball mark. Reworking one of the oldest cultures in sports heavily steeped in tradition and many things antiquated, is no small task but Good Lion is ultimately bigger than golf.
It’s a different way of seeing the world and your role within it. Will you play it safe today or live a little and do something good/true/right even if it makes you uneasy at first. Oftentimes not trying is just as much of a risk.
Jonny, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
One time while playing a few years back, every single person on the course looked like they had just escaped the most boring cult ever. White belts with a big metal belt buckle. Khaki shorts. White polo. White curved brim, hat pulled low.
Golf is one of my absolute favorite pastimes and has lately gone either the aforementioned uniform route or the loud, bananas on your shirt route. With how much beauty and variation there is in golf from the courses to conditions to strategies, we saw it as high time to create daily wear for golf lovers and golf skeptics alike relying largely on earth tones, classic silhouettes and thought-provoking designs.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Our goal is to increasingly unplug from social media and bring Good Lion Golf offline toward in-person experiences.
It feels increasingly difficult to build a lasting brand on social media, not to mention being a black hole of time, ad-spend and energy.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Taking a concept and seeing it to fruition is a success. Whether or not it’s well-received, is largely out of one’s control. Having that as a starting framework encourages creation. If the end goal is tons of sales and universal acceptance, you’d be peppered with anxiety the whole route, pander your efforts and would ultimately judge the idea or project with the wrong rubrics.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goodliongolf.com
- Instagram: @goodliongolf
Image Credits
Photo credit to: Paper Antler