BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

Newport Beach resident Michelle Phillips has always had her eye on fashion. But when she and her mom Barbara Simmons — both longtime golfers — looked for hip gear to wear on the course, she came up empty-handed.

“I was sick of the boring, conservative clothing,” she said, sitting outside the Newport Beach Country Club. “I always wanted something fun and cute that was feminine and fashionable to wear on the golf course.”

A friend had created flip-flops decorated with Swarovski crystals and Phillips, who is always perusing fashion magazines, saw that crystal headbands were becoming the “it” item. So Simmons and Phillips decided to start a business creating accessories that could dress up the mainstays of golf attire.

In 2004, the women created the Dolly Mama signature product, a wide-brimmed visor with three rows of Swarovski crystals attached.

“I started out by going around to boutiques high-end enough to be interested,” Phillips said.

Learning about the industry as she went along, Phillips then approached independent golf industry representatives to take her line to different clubs, including the Newport Beach Country Club, where the hats have been flying off the shelf.

When two women walked into the pro shop at the club wearing Phillips’s designs, the buyer and merchandise Dawn Andrade decided she had to have them in her store.

“We just got them in a couple weeks ago and they’re doing great, especially the visors,” she said. “I just had to reorder.”

In just over two years, Phillips and her mother were able to get their hats into luxurious resorts and clubs around the United States and internationally, including Tokyo, Guam and Mexico and the Bahamas.

“We expanded so quickly,” she said. “It’s been great.”

The line has also expanded, with baseball caps, T-shirts, golf towels, tee purses and a collection for kids.

“There’s gals buying these that are 30 and gals buying these who are 70,” she said. “The active person wants to be able to wear their golf outfit to lunch, for example, and they don’t want to look like they just came off the golf course — they want to look hot.”

Phillips and her mom, who lives in Washington state, are always on the lookout for new designs to offer, but many resorts and clubs are opting for custom orders and get their logo put on the items.

Many times her hats and accessories are the only “novelty” line that a club will carry, with the other hats donning the golf course’s logo.

Phillips is also a philanthropist — $1 is donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for each item a company or team orders. She’s also worked with the Glass Slipper Guild, a group that supports the Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

For more information visit www.dollymamadesigns.com.