just sat down with the new howies catalogue for the quarterly great read and spotted your name missing on the intro page. where have I been for the past few weeks?!

I can only add to the multitude of well-wishers, and let you know that howies & yourself have been an inspiration to my wife nicky & I for many years.

so much so, that we resigned our jobs 2 years ago and started our own brand, to add to the momentum out there of consumers & companies looking to make a real difference. the more the merrier we figured …

good luck & have fun dreaming up howies the sequel – it’ll be great.

thx a lot for all so far,

jorrit & nicky

I became sad when I read your post. Howies is such a great brand. Believe it or not, but there have been times when I went to your website e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y.
I hope that it makes you proud to hear that we often refered to Howies, when our American colleagues asked us what kind of sportswear they should do. ‘Make jumpers like Howies’!

I hated to see when you sold the brand to Timberland, but I guess you didn’t have a ton of options at the time.
And even though I hate to see you leaving now, I really admire your decision! A clear cut, not selling your soul, following your gut feeling – it must be hard, but from far away and without knowing you in person, I feel that it will be the right decision.

One last thing: I only read your posts. Your writing is, as other have said also, something very special. I hope you will do something with yout talent. And don’t wait until you are in your sixties, like Frank McCourt did!

You have all my admiration for what you and Clare have done! A lot of peopel (including myself) dream of doing something like this and will never succed. You have!

Cheers

Joern

David- you’ve gotta take a (long) holiday mate!(?)

Look forward to the next plan. Hope it stays in Wales, where we should be really proud of having companies like Howies.

If we can do anything…. We even have a spare shed at present.

I have always been a big fan of Howies up here in Scotland and I would have bought much more items from the catalogue over the years if only the Ts and shirts fitted my tubby build (c/o the scottish diet).

Best wishes

John, Glasgow

Howies has been inspirational, I hope your child continues to grow with the values you’ve instilled it with.

It may be painful but this new start will benefit many. I’m sure we’ll end up with another friendly company and all the good that will bring with it. Two of those is surely better than one.

I’m excited to see what a new burst of creative energy will bring.

Enjoy your freedom David.

PS. Let’s not forget that Steve Jobs created something even more amazing (NeXT) after he was forced to leave Apple. Then he returned with a vengeance…

Life is Sweet*

*Terms and conditions apply

B.

Howies is and continues to be one of our fav companies.

You have done great things and we thought it would be appropriate to say thanks for being an inspiration in our blog;

http://peelersurf.co.uk/freshlypeeled/2009/10/goodbye-dave/

Thanks, Andy – peeler

You tried to make a difference which is the main thing and you were passionate about it – good luck with the next chapter…

Didn’t see that one coming.

When you made the move with Timberland, we though, here we go, but you kept your integrity and if you loose that then what have you got.

The brand you have created is amazing and we look forward to receiving the latest catalogue, not just for the product but for an amazing read.

Will they be able to retain all of what you have created in your absence, well we look on with anticipation.

If your planing on doing any writing in that shed of yours then please do keep us posted.
You have an amazing gift and if you fancy applying it to some of the Fudge ethos than give us a call.

Big respect as always.

Never stop learning.

All at Fudge.

I remember seeing a howies t-shirt in a sale about 10 years ago and couldn’t believe it was organic cotton. I have looked forward to receiving your catalogue ever since, as much for the words as the wonderful clothes.

Your spirit and resolution has built a beautiful company I as a customer can feel proud of and I can’t wait to see where your shed (and your spirit) takes you next.

Love and light

Adrian

Thanks Dave.

But most of all, for the words.

In a world which is drowning in “content”, your carefully chosen words always provided a much needed kick to the heart. And the head.

Thanks for the inspiration.

And here’s to whatever you create next… I for one will be watching closely.

More than that though – I really look forward to hearing about what you come up with in the shed.

All the best man

I’ve cut my ties, I skip and jump
I’ve got a shed by the Teifi

best of luck.

You are an inspiration, a dreamer, a brave soul and someone who matters. It’s hard to leave behind something so big but so much better to keep following your heart, and being real is at the heart of the Howies that you created. Whatever happens with Howies, those of us who have followed the company over the years have felt every little bit of love you have put into it and it’s something that’s made us all better people. Your designs, words and inspiration have given us something priceless and helped us all be better people. So good on you mate and I hope all the good karma that you put out for all of us is coming back to give you great things a hundredfold :)

Life – for a limited period only, after all :)

Be happy
:)

Good luck, David and Clare

So I’m happy to know that wherever your end up you’ll take the same outlook on the world around us to make a similar difference in whatever you do next. Have fun.

Peace. Love. Future.

as always you express yourself brilliantly in just the right amount of words – your comments resonate with me more than you’ll ever know.

whatever the next step is, plant that foot firmly, stride forward, dont look back too often and stay hungry…

cheers
peaky

oh and drink tea and eat cake!

Howies has given so much more than just fashion for the masses and a new model for future/existing companies to strive towards. Not to mention the stacks of inspiration/motivation that the ‘DO’ Lectures has generated!

If we never made change and ventured to pastures new, great things wouldn’t happen…

Thank you and good luck x

all the best in future endeavours,

The world needs pioneers to create viable means of powering the planet equitably.

Good luck fella.

Thanks for the great clothes, videos, photos, blog posts, catalogues, website…

Best of luck

Nonetheless, I wish both you and Howies all the best.

Anth