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Catch up on all the news and events surrounding Kikkor Golf. If you're a writer and interested in doing a piece on Kikkor, please visit the Media page. |
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Golf Channel with Win McMurryFebruary 2011 - Golf Channel Win McMurry from the Golf Channel stops by the Kikkor Booth at the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando. |
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Lepp goes from links to racks with Kikkor GolfFebruary 2011 - Golfweek ORLANDO, Fla. – James Lepp is an enigma. A few years ago some would say this kid from Vancouver, Canada was going to make it big in the golf world, and make a fortune on the golf course. However, Lepp never got that far. After winning the individual title at the 2005 NCAA Championship while at the the University of Washington, Lepp just one day decided to put aside his golf career to concentrate on his new shoe company, Kikkor Golf. At first, Lepp will say he really doesn’t remember how it happened. He remembers going to practice every day believing and thinking that being a golfer was going to be his career. Period. This week the Washington alum could be found at the end of row 3900 at the PGA Merchandise Show, pitching a new shoe company which he founded under the belief that golfers can look cool. Kikkor Golf shoes definitely catch the eye of the younger generation. According to Lepp, the shoes really attract the demographic of what his company is looking for, which is golfers from ranging in age from 14 to 35. |
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Kikkor Shoes: All About Being Young, Awesome and ComfortableFebruary 2011 - Wei Under Par The booth I enjoyed visiting the most during the PGA Show was a company you may not have heard of: Kikkor Golf (pronounced “Kicker”). Founder James Lepp, a professional golfer and former All-American at the University of Washington, started the company because he was frustrated by the lack of shoe options that didn’t make him look like his dad. The 25-year-old from British Columbia, Canada, who grew up playing in the junior, amateur, college and eventually professional ranks, was forced his entire life to wear stuffy-looking golf shoes. When he turned professional in 2006, he became increasingly annoyed with the lack of cool shoe options. |
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Brooke: Gotta be the shoesJanuary 2011 - Globe and Mail For James Lepp, the transition from touring golf pro to footwear entrepreneur has been as comfortable as a pair of his Kikkor shoes. The 26-year-old Canadian, a former NCAA champion and two-time winner on the Canadian Tour, chucked his golf career a couple of years ago when his passion for the game hit bottom. Looking for a new outlet of excitement, and convinced that young cool guys needed a golf shoe they could call their own, the business grad of the University of Washington launched Kikkor in 2008. The design style and comfort level are borrowed from skateboarding and tennis. As his promotional material says, these aren’t your dad’s golf shoes. |
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Kikkor: Not Your Granddad’s Golf ShoesJanuary 2011 - View from the Fringe
My buddy Kevin O’Connell recommended I check out Kikkor Golf. He said they were doing something fresh in the golf shoe area. Right On! My Granddad never wore shoes like these. To be honest, I haven’t either (although I would). |
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Equipment Test 5 - Kikkor EppikOctober 2010 - The Bellingham Golfer For the first time though, we're featuring a shoe; a shoe from a relatively new brand that came to our attention a few months ago. The founder and CEO (or 'Captain Sauce' as he refers to himself on the company's web site) is a guy called James Lepp whom many of you will probably be familiar with. A native of British Columbia, Lepp graduated from the University of Washington in 2006, the year after he was individual champion at the NCAA National Championship at Caves Valley GC in Owings Mills, MD., where he shot a final-round 63 to get into a playoff with Tacoma's Michael Putnam (representing Pepperdine University) whom he beat at the third extra hole. Lepp turned professional soon after leaving UW and, in 2007, joined the Canadian Tour on which he has two victories - the 2003 Greater Vancouver Charity Classic (as an amateur) and the 2007 Greater Vancouver Classic... |
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Style IconApril 2010 - Golf Punk Singapore With a mission statement to offer you an alternative to "wearing the same shoes as your Dad", Kikkor Golf has finally brought us what few have managed before - high performance golf shoes that look pretty awesome. James Lepp, golf pro turned founder and president of Kikkor Golf, lets us on his personal sense of style. |
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Kikking Golf Into Another Gear
April 27, 2010 James Lepp makes no apologies for who he is. And he shouldn’t. He’s young, in touch with fashion trends and pop culture and when it comes to golf – he gets it. It is a game, it’s fun, and he likes that. Lepp, a Vancouver native, has been grabbing headlines in the last month for his new company, Kikkor Golf. And rightly so. The designs of his golf shoes are fresh, current, and obviously striking a chord with the plugged-in world that are flocking to check out their website and Facebook page, and more importantly – his products. But headlines are nothing new for Lepp, a standout amateur who won the 2005 NCAA Golf Championship and went on to win on the Canadian Tour. He has shown he has a high comfort level inside the ropes. It has given him a unique and beneficial insight as he has taken to the business side of golf – all on his own terms. |
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VIA INTERVIEW WITH KIKKOR GOLF
April 25, 2010 VIA: You grew up in the Lower Mainland and Kikkor headquarters are here as well. What is it about Vancouver that keeps you here? JL: Wow, so many reasons. I think if you ask anybody, whether they are from the area or elsewhere on why Vancouver is so special, you would hear similar reasons – the people, beauty, climate, sports teams (Go Canucks!), recreational activities, and on and on. Add to those attributes that my friends and family are here and really there’s no reason to leave. How many prototypes did you go through before you decided on the final Kikkor models? Did you have to visit the factory in (China)? If so, how was that? |
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Kikkor Introduces Eppik and Circle 3 Golf Shoes
April 21, 2010 If the same old saddle-type golf shoe just isn't your thing, Kikkors might be exactly what you've been waiting for. I'll be the first to admit that most of the traditional golf shoes available today don't quite fit my taste and certainly don't go far in terms of matching any sort of newer, younger style. So basically, with the golf apparel available today, you either end up looking like your dad, or you get into the Poulter zone, where, quite frankly, I'm equally as uncomfortable. So where does that leave people that don't like Raisin Bran or Fruit Loops? For an industry that is so insistent on growing the game, most manufacturers aren't really doing a lot to attract younger players in terms of youthful style. Exceptions to this might be Nike, Adidas, Ecco, and Puma, but even their lines of golf shoes are pretty conservative when compared to their other lines of everyday shoes. |
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Kikkor paves the way with unique online productApril 5, 2010 Kikkor.com has officially launched, and is showing off the company’s hip, young, stylish and functional golf shoes. It doesn’t matter if you are 18 or 48. If you’re young at heart these shoes were made for you. Along with comfort and style, the shoes also include the essential technical features – high-quality level of gripping, waterproof-ness, and stability and durability. The shoes come in a variety of colors, patterns and styles. You can also get a hat to match. The Web site is more than just a place to buy shoes and hats, however. It’s seriously entertaining. Tips from “Captain Sauce,” Mr. James Lepp, include wildly amusing shots, such as “The Saucer Pass,” the “Closed Eyes bunker shot,” and the “Opposite handed recovery.” |
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Street-Style Golf Shoes Trending Up
chapeaunoirgolf.com The trend toward a more casual looking golf shoe is being lead by companies like Ecco with the Golf Street Premier, and newcomer Kikkor Golf, with its line that is decidedly not the shoe your father would choose to wear - unless your father is Fred Couples. |
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Heart and SoleFairwaysgolf.ca – January 2010 Not all that long ago, James Lepp was the heir-apparent in Canadian golf. The first Canadian to win the NCAA national individual championship, which he pulled off back in 2005. Four B.C. amateur titles. Two Canadian Tour wins – one as an amateur – by his 24th birthday. Now, essentially out of the game – at least in a competitive sense - by his mid-20’s.
Read on... |
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Q&A with Kikkor Golf president James LeppGolfweek.com – November 5, 2009 “Are you still wearing your Dad’s shoes?” Many men are guilty of what Kikkor Golf asks in its motto. Luckily, there are still some cool and fashionable guys like James Lepp left in this world. Lepp, a former All-American at Washington who won the individual title at the 2005 NCAA Championship, is now president of Kikkor Golf. He founded the company in September 2008 in his native British Columbia, Canada, and his products – shoes, shirts and hats – will be available in Spring 2010. Lepp plans to expand the line to pants, shorts, sweaters and belts, as well as add a women’s line, in the future. I caught up with Lepp to find out more about his business venture. |
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Kikkor Golf: A Giant Lepp for Shoe KindChapeau Noir Golf – November 3, 2009 Hardcore golf fans, especially of the Canadian variety, will have heard the name James Lepp. Lepp jumped to prominence on the Canadian golf scene in when he won the Canadian Tour's Greater Vancouver Classic in 2003 as an amateur. Then, in 2005, Lepp won the NCAA Division I title, and then in 2007 repeated his win at the Greater Vancouver Classic, this time as a pro. |
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Ex-NCAA champ Lepp creates his own line of street-style golf footwearPGA.com – September 2009
James Lepp, the 2005 NCAA individual champion and now a professional golfer, has launched his own brand of golf footwear, called Kikkor. |
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