I wrote this blog a few years ago now. It was a day when we were trying to recruit for our brand new Bristol shop. I remember the day very well. Nerves, but very exciting times. And we found our team!

‘This weekend I am going to get some rest, before we head to Bristol in search of the perfect team for the shop.
I remember my interview for howies. I drove from Devon to Wales so early in the morning, the dog in the back and the boyfriend driving.
I talked all the way because I was so nervous. I then got the call from Scania as David and Chris were running early!! So i rushed in. I was so nervous.
I took a sneaky call at my last work place and did a silent scream in the staff room when David rang me from what sounded like the windiest place in the Wales to say i had the job.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that if you have an interview for the Bristol shop on Monday, don’t be scared, come as yourself, and tell us some fun stuff.’

I came to work for howies because it is a company that is full of ideas, creative people, a place full of dreams and hard workers making stuff happen. I took the job like an excited child because I believed in everything that David and Clare had started.

Today is my last day at howies. It has been amazing and lots and lots of fun…. oh and of course tea drinking!

Thanks to a grand old team of super hard working people.

A couple of things i will never forget are team RAD, Ruben turning up to work as some sort of running machine, Mark from the london shop on model searching days, the shoots and long drives, amazing team riders, the print shop and the dancing, the day Jon broke my bike, then the day we found my new bike…. there are many more I am sure.

So, good luck team, ride fast, run like Ruben but just don’t cut your hair like Ade! ( haha!)

Freshly pressed.

The Bourgeois Bicycle Caravan has landed!

In the Autumn of 2009, the trio of Jimmy Bodean, Harold Hobart Hellybutt & Del Da-Foster embarked on an expedition, along the western seaboard of france, by bicycle. With trailers brimming with the necessities (surfyboards, box cameras, pencils and books of russian beat poetry) the trio went in search of the image perfect and the ultimate rambling tale.

This is the outcome, and very nice too.

Read more here… or pop into the Bristol shop and pick one up.

James Bowden is the guy who does lots of our catalogue shoots.

Enjoy.

James McKnight one of our team riders has set this ace little blog up.

Really is worth a look, Mc Blog Part 1.

‘James Mcknight starts a summer series of updates and rants about anything and everything from the saddle of his Euro ‘access all areas’ Vendetta. Don’t expect to find gear ratios, sprockets and spoke tension here, this is a glimpse into the life of the professional bike bum, pump tracks, brioche and beer.’

This guy is always on his bike. A total nightmare to get hold of him! haha!

Right now he is somewhere bike testing in the sun! What a life!

Thanks McKnighty…

Well more lovely weather is headed our way this weekend.

Mel and I are super happy with waves we had this week too.

All in all a good one.

So with more sunny days ahead I am sure more nice pictures will be taken.

I am going for the sunshine look on the howies look blog to keep the glow alive!

Send me some happy sunny day shots of what you have been up to on this 4 day week… evening bike rides, early morning sunrise runs or good old evenings at the beach.

Email them to me : anna@howies.co.uk

howies is nice and relaxed today with a nice group dinner at the river, planning canoeing trips and genreal tom foolery!

Have a splendid weekend.

The sun is out here today in Cardigan Bay and the tea is in the pot, a busy day ahead of sorting out samples from the Autumn shoot.

We always seem to get very muddy on these shoots!

When we are away we take so many photos, so many it’s hard to pick the best for the catalogues. Pete and Aron have a hard task on their hands.

So when you have your tea break today have a little look at howies look, it’s were you can see more imgaes from shoots and the goings on behind the scenes.

Have a grand old day in the sun.

We are back in one piece from the Autumn/ Winter 2010 shoot.

We drove to Ireland and it was pretty magical.

A perfect setting for the shoot.

A massive thanks to all that made it happen, the grand oraganisation, models, teamriders, photographers, writers and illustrators  and to all the people we asked for directions!

‘Ahhh, to be sure….’ ( Irish accent!)

This is worthy of a tea break i am sure… howies look.

A lovely tumblr that is just full of howies photo shoot photos.

A sneaky look at images that maybe we don’t use just down to the fact we have so many!

check it out here

Pop the kettle on and have a little look.

We are just planning our next shoot and Millie and Paul have been looking for locations ( secret for a bit a longer!) but it will be great for sure.

Very exciting

Have a lovely Wednesday.

Today the man they call ‘Super Ted’ turned up at howies. While Poppy and I from Cooler Magazine went through the new range of Autumn/ Winter 2010 to do some shoots, the bike crew here were in awe of Ted.

He is know for his fixed skills and biking style and it was grand to have a catch up with the lovely couple.

Thanks so much for popping in and do let us know when you are back this way for more tea and bike rides.

Check out Ted’s movies here.

It was held a few weeks ago and by the looks of things it was a pretty great day!

It was held at Arcadia Sports Centre on what looks like super sunny day and it was teamed not only with great polo matches but also a BBQ. The round robin phases of qualification were teamed with music blasting from the speakers!

The Sunday held the final that was between the Rotten Apples and Cosmic 3 and taking the trophy was the Cosmic 3, nice one guys.

All in all a great event, great images and great idea. We should enter a team next year for sure. May need to get some training in though!

Thanks Neil for the grand photos.

On Friday we had some great visiters who popped in for a cup of tea.

The guys from www.gonepaddling.co.uk they were on the Welsh leg of their paddle and on the way up!

Joe Andrews and James Bonell,  have been embarking on a 3000-mile sea kayak adventure around the coast of mainland UK, raising money for two charities.

They launched from the  National Maritime Museum Cornwall, in Falmouth, and hope to make it all the way around our stunning coastline and back to Falmouth by mid-September.

The findrasiers target  is a pretty daunting £20,000, to be split equally between WaterAid and the NACC (National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease). I am sure these guys can do it!

Their ambition and outlook was super inspiring.

After a little look at the van which has been kitted out to sleep paddlers and drivers we had a chat and cupa and handed over some nice merino to keep them warm on the breezey paddles they have ahead.

We took loads of photos and will add these very soon, Ruben is getting his camera at lunch!

We hope Joe’s arm gets better soon too!

You can keep up to date with all there travels at here and also if you want give some money to these guys to help them on their charity target then you can here.

You can track the guys on via their GPS signals from their boats and then this will be added to their Tracker section of the blog.

For details of NACC and WaterAid, what they do and how your money will help their vital work, check out the details on the Charities page.

Nice one guys, a true inspiration.

Richard Stewart is the director of the new Surfers Against Sewage film ‘Protect Our Waves’.

You can read a great interview with the man himself on the Drift website, click here.

Pop the kettle on and have a read.

It’s a bit of inspiration to go and see it on Friday night at the Bristol Shop.

This Friday, 19 March at 7pm, the Bristol Shop is hosting  a double bill of surf goodness along side Drift.

As well as SAS’s new film, ‘Protect Our Waves’, featuring the likes of Gabe Davies, Toby Donachie, Candice O’Donnell, Jack Johns, Jayce Robinson, Sam Bleakley, Nathan Phillips and Richie Sills, The Surfscreen will also be showing Cyrus Sutton’s ‘Under the Sun’, a beautiful exploration of the divergent scenes of Australia’s Gold Cost and Byron Bay.

It’s £3 on the door, but money raised will go to SAS, so come along and show your support.

Totally worth a pop in, take some popcorn.

We are running a great comp this year.

‘Out of Focus but Always in the Picture’

The second ad we did taken on film by Jon Heslop is pictured above.

The lucky winners will have their photo used for a howies and DIG advert and Gallery Exhibiton. Sounds grand!

“The idea of a perfect picture seems to us to be something that cannot be agreed upon universally.Whatever you decide are the rules to judge your choice by will matter not a jot to the next pair of eyes which have a different set of rules which they use to judge their own perceived perfection.

We thought the idea of being out of focus should be as important as being in focus, after all what’s in the picture remains, even if you can’t see it in the way you have been programmed to, it is there somewhere, complete and perfect in its own way.

We’ve agreed to showcase these ideas on the back cover of the legendary BMX magazine, DIG. We will be doing a series of 6 adverts in total all from our favorite photographers. The first 2 are shown below.

At the end of the series we will be having UK gallery exhibitions in our London Carnaby Street and Bristol stores.

We’re asking photographers to send in their own out of focus shots. We’ll choose and print our five favorites as well as picking a golden ticket winner to appear as our ad in the sixth and final of the series. There’s $1500 of howies clothing up for grabs too.” – howies

We are looking for film only!

Email your entires to info@digbmx.com and put ‘howies’ comp in the subject line.

Happy snapping!

Closing date for entries is June 21st 2010 (the summer solstice).

I am counting down for the summer…(already)

The surf here has been pretty epic of late and the crazies of Pembrokeshire have been entering the chilly seas.

Massive swell and ice cream heads.

For a friends birthday we got him a blank to shape, another friend is lending him a stable on his farm to create the new beauty in!

Summer dreams all round.

These are some shots from last year when we went on a little surf trip.

The guys braved the Atantic and rode in board shorts.

This season I am happy to say we have the new Bay Surf Thermal.

Mel is super chuffed about it as am I, its merino and its grand!

( they are being counted into the warehouse as we speak)

I will be wearing mind for sure. We have them in three colours for guys and two for the ladies.

I have been wearing mind under my wet suite for a while now and I really would not go in without it.

So I am sat dreaming of the summer, but with a happy glow that I will be warm this winter.

Enjoy…

The creative lads are working on the catalogue right now. I am pretty excited about seeing it!

Here is a sneaky picture from the Spring shoot we did in November, this was shot in Wales.
A very early start for us all.
But the light and the weather was perfect. Lydia took a wake up run!
The Taith Leggings were put to the test. A perfect running leg.

I like this shot, Lydia was so cold, but in true howies style she was ace…
After we had a nice warm flask of coffee and some breakfast that Millie kindly made.

Here are to winter morning and running power!

For more sneaky pictures and nice stuff check out howies® look

James and his Hemp Jeans.

These shots were taken in sunny France . James’s and his not so stinky jeans, they really don’t smell!

He never takes them off.

No really never!

He was one of the first guys to get them hot of the sewing machine, we even went back to where they were made with them on.

His hemps have been from Wales to China (over land, so saw a flippin lot!) then onto Sydney and then all the way to Noosa, then to Tassi then back to Bournemouth, then down to Tenby then to Manoirbeir around 20 times for a surf (taken off at this point!) then to the howies head office, then to France from Devon on a bike… some fair distance. No washes, but they still don’t smell. They have been in below freezing temperatures, hot beaches, on sweaty bike riding, up and down mountains…

So now they are on their way back to the UK.

I think about now they with one leg rolled up or stuffed in a sock while peddling home from France.

Well James you better hurry as the Hemp Jeans are going on another trip!

I think these jeans are probably the best travelled jeans around and show the test of time. A trusted friend.

Talk about survial clothing! 

I have not taken this merino Second Skin jumper off all weekend.

I went on my bike to get milk (nearly blown off my bike and the shop is 50 meters from my house!) over the 1 st Seven bridge where my little polo nearly got blow off, then I fought with the crowds shopping when all i needed was a chicken pie from Mark and Spencers, and then I wrapped up warm in a barn while I watched a gig, Emily Teague with Polly Paulusma, just amazing, the music and the merino!

Then if that was not enough the Second Skin also then helped while I marched though the woods near Chepstow, riding a horse that was using the wind as an excuse to be a little jumpy. (did not fall off this time!)

So back now at my desk, would still have it  on, but left it for a friend to use,  this jumper needs to be worn to be believed!

totally sold!  thanks Second Skin! 

No wonder is it all Paul Bliss uses when he shoots the catalogues.

I am very excited about this event.

Our friends at Drift Magazine suggested an exhibition and our Bristol shop and we jumped at the chance.

An all day event inculding surf photography, UK shapers and a visit from our mate Ruth from Surfer’s Against Sewage, plus lots more.

It all kicks off at 11 am, so pop on  and see the guys, have a cupa.

Dont miss it.

We miss Ali alot here at howies.

When we made this dress we named it after her, plus it is totally her style. Check out the colour ways of the Ali Dress.

We took the dress to Sweden to shoot and we all loved it. We rode our bikes in it, jumped in the lake in it, took it to meet Fredick in his garden, drank coffee in, drank beer in it, danced around the camp fire in it. Super nice!

Perfect with our Brook or Suzie jeans.

We only sold it in our shops, but then we thought, hey let everyone have it!

I hope Ali has hers!

Happy Friday Dress.

This made me laugh a lot today.

George what a voice.

bourgeois bicycle check it out for more giggles and bikes

The boys are still on the road, still pulling their bikes and boards.

Sheltering from the rain and  then enjoying the sunshine when it pops out.

Seraching for waves, jokes, writing and taking cool shots along the way.

Check out the website it is super duper good.

Good Luck, and see you in a few weeks bourgeois bicycle caravan boys.

4 am Swedish Volvo. 

Just because at this time of the day a lovely shot can make you smile. check it out.

So…. what is this? Well, Joe writes the words. Katie wears the clothes. A different outfit every day for a year. As simple as that! 

I check What Katie Wore everyday. It’s such a fab idea. Check out this blog post here. 

This weekend  Katie wore howies. The womens Cabin Shirt. Very cool. What a stylying inspiration.

Last time I saw Ric Bower was at the Do Lectures, he was just waiting for the first print to be done. Nervous times, but so worth the hard work.

Then today it arrived.

I present to you  Blown Magazine 

Art, Music, Fashion and Photography. 

The smell of a new magazine is one of my favourite things and this one is pretty damn special.

Apart from it’s Welsh roots it is a master piece,  like a fine coffee! ( I have just got into coffee, decaf, I am bit fussy!) Ric seems to drink a lot of coffee near deadline time!

Ric and the team have produced something quite beautiful, a master piece of art, perfomance art, literature and with some stunning shots.

With contributors such as Andy Moxon, Clare Richardson, Diarmait Mac Giolla Chriost, Donal Christie,  but to name a few, really shows how magic this magazine is.

‘Dick Dastardly was right, don’t just stand there, do something ‘ and thats what Blown have done! 

Sweet.

Hand written letters are such a great way to get in touch, it’s so much nicer than an email.

Getting a fun fax is much nicer than getting a dull fax. fact. 

We go a great fax last week, it also had a great story, and made me smile. 

These guys are going a long way on a slow travel journey. They are going to blog it on chasing status 

Good Luck.

Their journey will be on their blog, will let you know when they start.

You can now keep updated with all our howies press and teepay press on our new blog.

It’s easy to check out where we have been and also any cool news we have product wise.  It gets updated daily and so there’s always new stuff to check out.

Please  email me with any of your own howies product shots, out on your bike, up a mountain, at a festival or on the beach.

It’s great to see the product stories that you create.

annaathowiesdotcodotuk

We just lauched a new blog. It’s called howies look.

Everyday after lunch sometime, we will blog an picture from our image server.

So much great stuff doesn’t make the catalogue and it’s a shame to keep it hidden here.

So here it is.

Today I am off to the Harvest at Jimmy’s Farm, Ipswich.

We will be there from Saturday until Sunday night.
Find Claire (from the Do Lectures) and I sitting on the hay stacks next to the howies van. Probably dancing around and drinking tea.

Stock is coming too, so come and buy some end of summer gear and teepay tees, or just pop in and say hey, chalk something on the van or share a festival story.

Thanks to Jimmy and the team for the invite, it will be a grand event. Lets do a sunshine dance for the weekend.

For more info about the festival check out the link.

A quote from Jimmy, about the event,

“This is a very special festival which we hope will be the first of many & to have some of the country’s finest chefs like James Martin, Gennaro Contaldo and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen cooking for us will be a real treat and will showcase our locally sourced food at its best. We’re immensely proud & excited of our line-up with lots more up our sleeves to be announced…So come and tuck into one of Jimmy’s sausages, watch the late summer sun go down with a pint of organic cider and enjoy the magical sounds of the main stage underneath a Harvest moon.”

Cheers Jimmy. See you for a dance.

I got this pretty ace email from Hugo. A face I have not seen for a while.
Here is his story.

howies,

Knowing how proud you people are of your products and encouraged my a good friend of mine and your photographer James Bowden, i thought i’d share with you a t-shirt and jumper adventure.

Two years ago me, my girlfriend, a howies t-shirt and one of your amazing merino jumpers, set off from a little village in Devon with a badly concieved idea of reaching Australia without planes. 2 years later we have arrived back in the UK with 3 of the hero’s of the story still in life.

We traversed 3 continents, 18 countries, 2 bribed international border guards, and a single ocean crossing . All our clothes suffered greatly from -15 degree temperatures camping in Mongolia, a capzited ferry in Indonesia, to the u.v. microwave that is South Australia and 760* hand washes (*estimate). Of all the equipment we took your ‘equation for calculating wave height t-shirt’ was one of only 2 original pieces of equipment to make it back alive, the other is my socks but you dont wanna smell/see them.

That t-shirt is legendary it caused to me to end up on the phone talking at the end of a meal in Russia to be to the man that designed the Thames barrier, and on another occasion to miss ‘John Butler Trio’s – Betterman’ as 2 worst for wear Aussie’s argued over the exact definition of wave height. Still all this brings me to a small complaint.

The equation given is infact that for Celerity (wave speed) not wave height, as both the aussies and mr Thames Barrier informed me, and that the calculations for wave height are so complex you would need a book attached to the front of the Tee.

Still i loved the t-shirt, and the merino wool jumper though he fell fowl to a rat that was living in our shack in the Philippines, those natural fibres obviously taste good.

We, my Girlfriend and I are off on travels again in Sept (the t-shirt wont be coming as it is more of an off the shoulder affair now) this time to try and crew across the Pacific and i would love it if i could buy a replacement from you guys if you have any old stock as its out of print, so the 3 of us can be together again.

So there it is a product story, and if proof is needed an attached photo of rice planting in Southern China.

Cheers Hugo.

Will be in touch.

Emma and Stephan got married at fforest farm a couple of months ago, and the day before Stephan kindly brought us a cake and a chilli plant.

Today I wandered past the plant and…… there were two growing!

Any one dare to eat one!

Thanks Emma and Stephan, hope all is well and you had a great honey moon.

made my day to send them out…..enjoy it with a cuppa.

In the post now!

Fleur Britten is a journalist, and since 2004 has worked for the Sunday Times. Where she is currently senior commissioning editor of Style Magazine. 

We have her new book here at the office. And we have some to give away!

I have been having a read and it has definitely inspired me to do a trip!

A bit about the book:

Starting out in Moscow and taking the Trans- Siberian Railway she ends up in some unusual places, meets some crazy characters and sleeps on a very random selection of couches. Along the way, Fleur discovers that the promise of ‘couch available’ rarely means just a couch, with meals, unofficial local tour and family welcomes all part of the experience. It seems that the more couches she accepts, the more she starts to realsie that couch surfing isn’t just a sofa for the night- it’s a whole new way to travel. 

I have 4 to give away and so the first four people to email me with the correct answer to following will get a Couch Surfing book:

The Question:

In the Summer 2009 catalogue how long did it take James our photographer to get to China on the train? 

email me at anna@howies.co.uk 

enjoy your lunch times.

Mark has made this movie about his craftsmanship that goes into  the environmentally responsible surf boards. Check Tiger Surf Boards for the information about the boards.

Loving the Tiger.

Check out the movie.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When I recived this magazine on my desk, I popped on the kettle for a cuppa and read.

Egg Mag has hatched and really it is great. Nice work Ellie.

This issue is the Vintage issue, featuring some great features including the environment, fashion, eco awarness, music, art and all things fun.

The best things are free!

You can pick up the Egg Mag in our shops, definitly worth a read.

I can’t wait for the next one…

Today’s staff pick is ‘ feeling a bit grouchy’ by Luke James.

thanks Luke

Click here to buy men’s / Click here to buy women’s

Today’s staff pick is ‘she got legs’ by fatsarazzi.

‘This is a 3 colour halftone print of an image I did for Agent Provocateur for
ANNEX magazine.’

thanks fatsarazzi

Click here to buy men’s / Click here to buy women’s

this morning i blogged about the Tenby storm.

today this then happened.

not so stormy now.

a pretty amazing sight.

welcome the Tenby dolphin

this was last night in Tenby.

it was loud and pretty amazing to watch.

the seagulls were going mad in the sky.

it cleared the air for sure.

Today’s teepay staff pick is ‘Trunk Knot’, designed by Chester Bigglesworth.

It’s quite simple really, never forget, we must look after our trees!

Click here to buy Mens / Click here to buy womens

Today’s teepay staff pick is ‘EX MP’ by Darren Marshall.

Click here for the mens and here for the womens

check out teepay.com for more designs.