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Her retirement ended. “Why would anyone say no to Dirty Harry?” she joked. Pictures and ads of Eastwood dot the Tehama office. Eastwood (Haley and other members of the company are on a first-name basis with him) was a major player in getting Tehama off the ground, she said. “He was the inspiration for the product in the beginning,” she said. “He helped us market the brand, and he modeled some of the clothes. We’re at the point now where we have a very strong brand in the industry,” she said.
Haley is excited about the next step the company is taking. In an effort to explore renewable and organic materials, they’ll be introducing new fabrics for what Haley describes as Tehama’s “green group.” New sports clothing might be made with polyester recycled from soda bottles, super-soft fabric spun from bamboo or moisture-wicking material incorporating carbon from coconuts. Tehama is also introducing a “vitamin shirt” that infuses the wearer’s body with vitamins woven into the material.
“We’re always looking for what’s hottest, what the best fabric is,” Haley said. These innovative fabrics are one of the reasons Haley will receive the Ernie Sabayrac Award. “She’s really a trailblazer in the industry,” said Anne Ingham, Tehama’s vice president of design. “She’s really in charge of all our products.” Haley had a vision from the beginning of her career. She felt that golf was male-dominated right down to the clothing women wore on the golf course.
Haley recognized a true niche market, she said. “The gals I played golf with would change their clothes before going to lunch, which to me said they were embarrassed by their outfits,” she said of some of the golf ball-embroidered outfits she saw on the course. “I thought, women’s golf apparel is an afterthought.” She addressed the issue by starting Sun-Daze, a women-centered golf clothing company.