John Mooty

Two things happened that made NWKC possible, things necessary to kickstart any idea, inspiration and the ability to execute. The inspiration came when I was sitting with my Dad in my apartment. We were researching defunct brands that could be fun to bring back, specifically those in Minneapolis. After digging through books and google searches, we realized we were sitting inside the answer. My apartment at the time was the original Northwestern Knitting Company factory building that ultimately became Munsingwear. When the company was purchased by Perry Ellis and shut down the Minneapolis plant, all associations and ownership of the NWKC entity were left behind so we picked it up.

The second piece was the fabric, our ability to execute. NWKC was founded on the double knit concept, originally making underwear and union suits with wool yarns pushed to the face and silk yarns pushed to the skin side. This construction was developed and patented by George Munsing and made them the largest underwear producer in the country during the first quarter of the 1900’s. Through my time at the mill, I met a consultant for Woolmark and just so happened to set up a meeting with him during a visit in New York. He brought a swatch card from a mill he was working with in North Carolina and it ended up being the perfect starting point for the NWKC Merino Dual Cloth. Two years of development later, after making adjustments to the weight, knit structure, and finishing process we were off and running.

I have been in the performance technology arena for 30 years and to this day think merino is one of the most technical materials in the world. It is also very difficult to work with and as we know, there are a number of ethical issues that surface with merino when it comes to mulesing. I have spent a lot of time in New Zealand working with mills over there to understand it and there is a lot of debate about pure merino vs a blend. Take us through your sourcing process and why you decided to use a blend with your knits. (Note from Ralph - I personally love both blends and 100% merino depending on the application).

We source our Merino yarns from Suedwolle in Germany, a global leader in wool yarn innovation and practices whose entire line is RWS (Responsible Wool Standard) Certified. This basically provides a tool to recognize the best practices of farmers in how they manage their land and respect animal welfare running from farmers to finished yarn in how it is certified. All other yarns and fabrics are sourced from the best possible manufacturers we can find. Our tri-blend yarns come from Cap Yarns in South Carolina, we use stretch wovens from Schoeller in Switzerland, US-made Supplex Nylon, and ponte knit linings from Japan to name a few.

We went with a blended construction for two main reasons. First it was a way to give a nod to Georgre Munsing’s original double knit method. I loved the idea of taking his original thought and tweaking it for application today. The blended approach gives the formalness and aesthetic versatility of wool on the face and the comfort (in my opinion) of a cotton sweatshirt on the skin side. The second justification was that I am allergic to wool so this construction also lends itself to taking the itch out of the equation for those that are more sensitive to the wool fibers. 

You have what I consider to be the most important brand, company and project in golf right now with Sentinel. Where did the idea for Sentinel come from and can you tell us more about your project designs and processes.

It came from three college friends with very different professional backgrounds (an entrepreneur, race car driver, and lawyer) looking for an excuse to get together more often and have a fun set of problems to work through. The rangefinder case was the last poorly considered piece of equipment on the bag, an afterthought and obligatory add-on by manufacturers. Personally, starting a golf specific brand was not on my radar but the void was there and we had an ability to execute on it after building prototypes with my friend and longtime collaborator Phil Schade of 1733.

We leaned into it and the projects so far are an extension of my sourcing background, hunting down and working with obscure materials, trusted manufacturers, or product categories that have been left to the wayside with a mindset that the assortment should take its cues from the neighborhood hardware store. Sturdy equipment, built the right way, maybe found in dim lit, dusty aisles, with more substance behind it than its Home Depot-like counterparts.

Where do you want to see Sentinel in the future? (Note from Ralph - it will be the most influential brand in golf).

If we can keep finding interesting things to share and great people to work with, we will try to keep chasing things down. I think there is a lot of potential for out-of-the-box material and category exploration in golf and Sentinel has become a fun excuse to try that on a small scale. I have really enjoyed seeing the similarities and differences between the menswear and golf world. The golf community is incredibly supportive and vocal so I am excited to see how those relationships progress over the life of the project. 

The Solomon Hughes project is really special - can you take us through how this came about, what it is and where you would like to see this go?

We see the SHSGA as developing into a youth mentorship and scholarship program that celebrates the life and legacy of Solomon Hughes Sr. and utilizes golf as a bridge to teach and encourage academic and athletic greatness. It is founded in conjunction with The University of Minnesota Men’s & Women’s Golf Teams and its mission is to create meaningful change within the game of golf and the lives of students through youth enrichment opportunities supported by mentors and coaches to encourage awareness, patience, perseverance, and self confidence on and off the course. It hopes to serve young people between the ages of 13 and 19 experiencing a lack of opportunity or resources, with a focus on Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color (Culture).

The idea became a reality after a conversation I had last summer with my good friend Greg Johnson. Greg is from a long line of Minneapolis educators and his family has been ingrained in the community throughout that time. He is currently training to be a firefighter but is also a musician, industrial sewer, and has experience working with young people in a creative outlet through Juxtaposition Arts in North Minneapolis. We share a lot of the same interests so would always get together and talk music, arts, culture, fabrics, sourcing, and golf.

That day, I shared with him the story of Solomon Hughes that I had found while digging around the Minnesota Historical Society archives. Our conversation snowballed into the possibility of assembling a mentorship and scholarship program built in celebration of Solomon Hughes for youth in underserved communities that would use golf as a bridge for college prep, social and emotional intelligence, and career exploration.

We have been chasing it down ever since with the big addition to the equation being the University of Minnesota Golf Team. The idea was that if we could connect kids in surrounding underserved communities with collegiate players and coaches as mentors, sharing the access and resources that come with a University like the U of M, and building meaningful programming around that foundation, we could construct something of value for both students of the Academy and University students. We have since built a small internal team, a solid support network of contributors, and have three open events scheduled this Fall that will help launch the full scholarship program for next year.

What are your views on sustainability and ethics in business in an industry that throw these words around without really understanding what they mean and how to execute?

I think many pockets of the supply side have made incredible strides in innovation and dedication to doing things better than they have in the past. From materials, to process, to marketing and how they express these practices to customers. There are still many issues with it as a whole but in my opinion, it is now the demand side’s responsibility to prove they have the same willingness to innovate and adapt. We as customers must show we can truly commit to dedicating the same budget to less items. The budget doesn't have to change but the quantity of things needed in our closet does. It is up to us to prove we no longer need disposable clothing at the cost of unethical manufacturing conditions and unsustainable raw material processes. 

Top 10 albums of all time  

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus, Sunny & The Sunliners - Mr Brown Eyed Soul, Rodriguez - Cold Fact, Big L - Lifestyles Of The Poor & Dangerous, Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead, Rolling Stones - Some Girls, Wu Tang Clan - 36 Chambers, Sublime - Sublime, A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory and Sam Cooke - Ain’t That Good News.

If you were not involved in Sentinel and NWKC - what industry would you go into?

I have always had a huge interest in and appreciation for architecture, both commercial and residential, so would love to pursue that further. My preferences in architecture are similar to music where I don’t really have a genre preference but just love things for their specific intention and purpose. I love making the old new again, making the new with a nod to the old, and appreciate other approaches even when they don’t do either of these, when it’s a genuine, natural space.

What's in your bag (which I believe is a Mackenzie)?

Before Sentinel, my golf bag was a pretty sad sight so it has been fun to build it from the ground up and be more intentional about what I carry around. Unfortunately the gear upgrades have had little to no effect on scoring.

Clubs 

Driver / 3-Wood - TaylorMade Sim2
Irons - Titleist AP2
Wedges - Titleist Vokey SM8
Putter - PING Vault 2.0 ZB
Grips - Iomic

Gear

Sentinel / MacKenzie Ultracomp Walker
Sentinel / Bubbawhips Carbon Miracle Whips
Sentinel / PushCut Enigma Headcovers
Sentinel / Scout Black X10

I am a pretty huge advocate for reading business and philosophy books - any books that have an impact on you that you would suggest?

The most influential philosophy author for me is Sigurd Olson. Sig was born in Chicago but spent most of his professional life in Ely, Minnesota as a teacher, wilderness guide, outfitter, and ultimately conservationist. He was President of the National Parks Association, President of the Wilderness Society, and drafted the Wilderness Act of 1964 to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, America’s most visited wilderness area. A little preview:

“The movement of a canoe is like a reed in the wind. Silence is part of it, and the sounds of lapping water, bird songs, and wind in the trees. It is part of the medium through which it floats, the sky, the water, the shores...There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past and a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions. When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known.”

What I love most about Sig’s writing is his ability to communicate the importance of human interaction with nature. Not only the importance, but the need. The need to experience it, understand it, and preserve it. Most of his writings involve camping, canoeing, and fishing but his lessons and perspectives (like this quote) can easily translate to how we think about golf, being on a bike, or a surfboard. Like all great work, it gets better with age and one could argue Sig’s writings are more important now than when he wrote it. If you were going to pick up one book of his, I would go with The Singing Wilderness. 

We have talked about putting on an event for players to attend with NWKC, Sentinel, FR., Christian Hafer and his BCS project and of course Michael Williams and his ACL Golf project. I think it would be one of the most interesting weekends of golf you could ever put on because of the type of people who would attend with the huge shift happening in golf right now. Where would you like to see an event like this happen? (My choice would be Cabot in Nova Scotia as it's the most pure golf environment on the planet).

It would be a trek but Tara Iti looks absurd. Wherever it ends up being and whenever it gets put on the calendar, I am there though.

Instagram has served as a great tool to stay connected and on top of what everyone is working on but there is definitely a void in true interaction, especially after this year, so I know it would not only be special but much needed.

Cycling has significantly evolved over the last 15 years thanks to Rapha and the evolution of gravel, streetwear exists solely because of Shawn Stussy and surfing is also going through a major transition now a shift back to grassroots riding and incredibly influential brands like Need Essentials (best brand content ever made on Youtube). Where do you see golf headed in the next few years? Where do you see menswear headed?  

Golf has come a long way in the past few years but I think it is still at a crossroad. It has an incredible groundswell of positivity, innovation, and personality but there is still a significant majority that either are yet to catch the wave or are too complacent to change their perspective or expectations. Also, the idea of versatility has been pounded into our heads recently by ad-heavy brands but in my opinion, true versatility has still yet to be achieved. And as of late I am thinking maybe we need it, maybe we don’t.

I don’t know what that silver bullet looks like yet but something that comes to mind is we change clothes to play basically every other sport. It is just the way we feel in those clothes (either in style or function, ideally both) that solidify its intrinsic value for a specific use.

That being said, I do think there are pieces that transition well (in my bias opinion, the NWKC Crew is a good example) and the idea of post-sport comfort like you are building with fr. is a very pragmatic approach. So I think the answer lies in and around what is being developed, not counting out the classics, and we will see if it is versatility or specific performance that will win out.