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the other day i called round at my mate howard's to borrow a saw, as we were talking something out of the kitchen window managed to catch my eye just before it dissappeared behind a tree, at first i thought it was a massive ginger cat walking along the top of the garden wall but howard was like 'nah it's just the fox, everytime i make a curry he comes and sits at the bottom of the steps' so i went outside and had a look, low and behold there he was sitting in the garden just staring at the kitchen window. i managed to get pretty close to him before he got up and wandered off followed by martin the cat. unfortunately i only had my crappy camera phone to get a picture of him so here he is, the curry loving, cat friendly clapton fox!

If you were to ask me what makes a good t-shirt design, I probably couldn't tell you. Countless hours i've spent thinking, drawing and criticizing t-shirt ideas and still i haven't figured out the art of it.

Is it about making a statement? Or perhaps about not making too much of a statement? Should it jump off the cotton with 6 colours or hide subtly on the hem in one colour? Witty ideas are great, but if it's too clever the idea can often get lost. So is it about a balance of qualities? Maybe... maybe not.

I've seen a t-shirt that literally (and i really mean literally) took under 10 seconds to draw, sell 300 t-shirts in a week. The world of t-shirts is so mind-boggling it's unreal.

I write this because we're already thinking about the Autumn catalogue and getting t-shirt ideas together. And t-shirts are an important part of our catalogues. After all, that's how howies started.

If you have an opinion on this subject, please share. And if you want to voice an opinion on howies t-shirts, you can do that too.

Cheers.

So 20 minutes left to vote...

There are some swear words in this. I tried not to.

Why are we not getting better at the bad stuff?

We invented the plane and have streamlined systems to fly people all over the world, but cannot get them home when there is ash in the sky.

Leaves stop trains.

We create power from uranium, but have no great plan for it when it's spent but still highly dangerous.

And when 5000 barrels of oil a day flood onto the oceans it will take another 90 days to drill another well into the oil field to release the gas to stop the flow. So by the time they stop it between 1-5 million barrels will have leaked into a fragile ocean.

And this is the third time in 5 years BP have fucked up like this.  Why should shareholders and the company benefit when the world has paid the price?

Governments, business, people need to make the companies that are making big big money from high risk stuff prove that they are prepared for the big fuck up's before they start.

Really prove it.

They must stand up in front of a huge room of children who will come up with all those madcap ideas that may happen. And if they can prove they are prepared, the next question from the kids will be "why"?

And if after all this they fuck up, then the company management is  sacked after they have gone out and cleaned up their mess.

When it's big stuff like this, companies have got to be good at the bad stuff.

It's a Monday morning, perfect time to get the week off to a positive start.

Some local Bristol guys who are always doing positive work are the folks who run 'Be That Change'. "We are you. We're not big business, big religion or big charity. We’re just a small group of individuals as concerned as you about our future - things aren't making much sense any more."

That small group of individuals is calling for a modern day twist on direct action to ask the main UK political parties to commit to 42% carbon cuts.

If you think that protest marches don't cut it anymore, be one of millions to get the attention of MPs. Get invovled by texting WAKEUP to 82222 followed by name and postcode. Then Walk Out on Climate Change Day on April 26th. (see website details)
Get involved in the twitterstorm. Don't wait around for others to do it for you, be the change you want to see.  

We just got this email in -

Hi lovely howies people,

Iceland is in the news a lot today which reminded me to send you these pics from our weekend there a few weeks ago.

We went diving in the Silfra Ravine, crystal clear, glacial melt water - amazing visibility!  At 1 degree it was a bit chilly but we were kept nice and toasty in our howies thermals, love the New Bay Surf top.

We also got up close and personal with the now rather famous volcano.

Amazing trip - happy days

Mark

Ade and I just got home from a whirlwind trip up to Manchester to meet some people and learn some stuff.

On the way there we passed one of Wales' most famous mountains, Cader Idris, and had a go at running up it.

The low clouds and mist coupled with the fading light made for a great atmosphere filled with looming rock faces and peaks rising out of the gloom.

We made it up the hundreds of beautifully built stone steps and to the lake in the middle, where we turned around and came back down to beat the dark.

40 minutes of real life doodle jump.

It was an amazing place and a great run. Must go back.

(And in case you were wondering, the echo up there was brilliant)

It was lunch time and I wanted some tea, so I went down the steps and into Fforest (my favourite coffee shop) and filled up a pot. It was at that point I noticed something tucked away in the corner. A shiny looking bike, I didn’t recognise any bits on the bike so I decided to find out a bit more by talking to the owner, Robbie.

It turns out that the bike was actually salvaged from the river, he saw the potential in it and decided to do it up, and with a bit of sand paper and a lick of paint he managed to transform a geared bike into a fixed gear. He spent some cash on a few new bits, but if a fifteen year old can salvage and recycle something like this, then I think there is a good lesson for the rest of us…

Well bank holiday weekend is around the corner and things are getting a bit warmer... (That said the sea is as cold as ever).

So if you’re looking to stay warm (New bay surf Thermal) or cool down (Good old fashioned tees). Not only do we have the works but we have 20% off the lot until midday Monday. That includes all our awesome samples. After a good surf you may find yourself sat around a camp fire wrapped up in one of our cuddy shirts thinking 'best weekend ever'.

You can use this offer online and in our other shops as well - click here for more details on that.