apparel clothing genre sporting goods founded 1987 ; 29 years ago 1987 headquarters carlsbad california united states key people fred couples primary sponsor products apparel corporate products number of employees 12 800 2006 parent taylormade adidas adidas website www.ashworthinc.com ashworth is a golf apparel company maker of ashworth the game kudzu and callaway golf apparel . on october 14 2008 ashworth was acquired by taylormade adidas . contents 1 history 2 target market 3 sponsorships 4 acquisition by adidas 5 references history edit the company was founded in 1987 by gerald montiel and john ashworth as charter golf inc from an office in the los angeles garment district . ashworth was a golf enthusiast and montiel ran a sporting goods store . montiel hired ashworth as a buyer for the golf department in 1985 . they observed that golf fashions in the 1980s could use more style . after the sporting goods store went out of business ashworth started designing the clothes while montiel raised money for his idea . eventually he raised 685 000 by early 1988 and the company was launched as charter golf inc. sales started modestly reaching 374 000 in the first year but grew quickly reaching 2.14 m in 1989 . montiel took it public in 1990 under the symbol cgol . 2 using stock grants as an incentive they signed celebrity endorsers starting with golf tournament pros fred couples later john cook scott verplank mark wiebe ernie els dave stockton and cbs announcer jim nantz . mr. couples later signed a lifetime endorsement agreement in exchange for incentive stock in 1994 . 3 growth continued through a secondary offering in 1992 that raised 10.9 m helping fund expansion . that transaction valued the company at 44m on 28.8 m revenues . in 1994 it formally changed the name to ashworth inc. growth was healthy until 1995 when the company suffered some growth pains due to unexpected difficulties transitioning to a new management information system mis . montiel had promoted rick werschkul in early 1995 from coo . he resigned early 1996 possibly over problems with an mis implementation that caused problems meeting orders . 4 montiel took over management until late 1996 when he hired randy herrel from quicksilver inc. 5 mr. herrel rejuvenated the company s operations and product line getting it back on a growth trajectory . from 2.1 m in 1989 they reached 74.5 m by 1995 stalling in 1995 1996 then growing again to 89m in 1998 . john ashworth left the company in 1997 citing philosophical differences . he later joined quicksilver inc. in 2001 after expiration of his non compete agreement to start a competing line of golf apparel called fidra . 6 gerald montiel retired from the company end of 1998 . the company continued to perform well under ceo randy herrel s leadership . in 2001 it entered a licensing agreement with callaway golf to design market and distribute a line of apparel under the callaway name . 7 sales reached 173m in 2004 and 204m in 2005 . however competitive pressures stalled revenues at that point and the company posted its first loss since going public in 1990 . ceo randy herrel resigned in early 2006 and the company started a search for a new ceo and chairman . 8 meanwhile in 2006 revenue only reached 210m with profits under 1m and in 2007 revenues fell to 202m and profits to a 14m loss . they hired allan fletcher founder of fletcher leisure group a canadian golf apparel company and ashworth partner in late 2007 . 9 however his tenure as head of an independent company only lasted until late 2008 . on oct 13 2008 taylormade adidas agreed to acquire ashworth for 72.8 m including 46.3 m in debt giving the transaction a value of 26.5 m to shareholders . 10 target market edit ashworth focuses on both modern and traditional clothing geared towards use on the course . citation needed sponsorships edit they currently sponsor fred couples justin rose sean o hair justin leonard ryan palmer rory sabbatini and johnson wagner . acquisition by adidas edit in november 2008 ashworth became a wholly owned subsidiary of taylormade adidas golf complementary to the synthetic performance fabrics of adidas golf . references edit company profile for ashworth inc ashw . retrieved 2008 10 21 . funding universe ashworth company history http www.fundinguniverse.com company histories ashworth inc company history.html ashworth inc. form 10 k 1995 . p. 5 ashworth inc. form 10 k 1995 . pp. 11 12 shworth inc. form 10 k 1996 . p. 16 quiksilver teams with john ashworth to offer golf wear line la times jan 17 2001 by leslie earnest . http articles.latimes.com 2001 jan 17 business fi 13293 ashworth inc. form 10 k 2001 p. 3 mrketplace sept 13 2006 . http www.mrketplace.com 1068 ashworth ceo herrel resigns ashworth inc. announces appointment of allan fletcher as chief executive officer design taxi 26 oct 2007 . http designtaxi.com news 12755 ashworth inc announces appointment of allan fletcher as chief executive office taylormade adidas golf company to acquire ashworth inc. business wire 10 13 2008 . http www.businesswire.com news home 20081013005550 en taylormade adidas golf company acquire ashworth this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . june 2007 learn how and when to remove this template message retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ashworth clothing & oldid 733238388 categories adidassporting goods manufacturers of the united statesclothing brands of the united statescompanies established in 1987companies based in carlsbad californiacompanies formerly listed on nasdaqclothing companies of the united statessportswear brandshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from september 2013articles lacking reliable references from june 2007all articles lacking reliable references navigation menu personal tools 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