When your jacket is dirty this causes the fabric to ‘wet out’ and loose its breatability.  If you wash your jacket in a standard washing detergent it will not help matters either, as it leaves residue behind.  You could use a non-detergent based tech wash.  This will not compromise the breathability or waterproofing of your jacket.  However over time your jacket will loose its durable water repellency, which is where re-proofing comes into play.

We think you should get the best out of your clothes so… we are now selling Grangers 30° 2 in 1 Cleaner and Waterproofer, at the Carnaby Street store and Bristol store.  This product has energy saving in mind, as you only need to use one wash cycle.    It is bluesign certified; and is the only aftercare company to have this accreditation.  Bluesign is the world’s only independant benchmark that guarantees products are free  from harmful substances, and as such are safe for humans and the environment.  We also have Grangers XT proofer spray available.  Many conventional re-proofers rely on heat being applied to activate it.  This means using your tumble drier or and iron.  We don’t want you to use this energy unnecessarily.  The XT proofer restores the perforormance of your jacket, with simply airdrying it after you have sprayed it.

I know this reads a bit like an infomercial…but hopefully we have imparted some knowledge on aftercare for you.

Tomorrow night is Grazia night in Carnaby Street and many shops and restraunts will be offering 20% off all evening, including our own shop at number 42.

Sounds like a great evening to me, and I half wish I wasn’t 300 odd miles away in Cardigan Bay, or I could probably get most of my Christmas shopping done in one go. But then, I wouldn’t be able to go for a nice run through the Teivy valley after work… so maybe I’m not doing too badly after all.

If you are in the area, I reckon it will be worth checking out. Click here for details on how to sign up for the event.

Our next Wee Do at the Carnaby Street store is next Tuesday, 17^th November; and we have Betony Garner coming in to talk about the Ski Club of Great Britain campaign Respect the Mountain.

She is passionate about green issues and has been trying to raise awareness about how to minimise the impact of snowsports on the environment for the last four years.

Respect the Mountain was a campaign launched by the Ski Club of Great Britain in 2004 with the aim of safeguarding the mountains for future generations to enjoy. Its basis is raising awareness and educating skiers, snowboarders, resorts and the whole snowsports industry on how they can do their bit to minimise their impact on the environment. The talk will investigate how the mountains have changed, how humans have impacted them and what we can do as skiers and snowboarders to help.

For more information about the campaign go to: www.respectthemountain.com

 If you would like a free ticket to this event, please email (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) or call us (0207 287 2345) to reserve a space. 

As always we have free organic beers and juice available.  Doors open at 7.15pm.  Spaces are limited so get in touch quickly.

 Hopefully see you there :)

Click here to view the embedded video.

This made me laugh a lot today.

George what a voice.

bourgeois bicycle check it out for more giggles and bikes

I have this thing about fenders / mud guards. They’re kinda lame.

But I can’t handle getting so wet anymore. I’m fed up of having an ice cold sodden crotch every morning.

So I might these: SKS Race Blades. Are they good?

I don’t have any mounts on my bike so my choice is limited.

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.

If you want to avoid the rainy, grey weather today, come along to the Climbing Festival at  Undercover Rock. It’s at  Bristol Climbing Centre, St.Werburgh’s Church, Mina Road, Bristol, BS2 9YT ( 0117 941 3489). 

We will be selling some fabulous t-shirt designs at fabulous prices and maybe you’ll spy one of us attempting to traverse the climbing wall.

the second skin jumpers are finally here in Carnaby St just in time for winter and they are truly amazing, it has definitely been worth the long agonising wait, we all put one on straight out of the box, so if you can’t find your size you’re going to have to wrestle us for ours (seriously), im ordering mine first thing monday morning!

My old friend Russell who sells Cannondale for the South West is having a garage sale for all his salesman samples. He has got bikes new and used, components, clothing the lot. And it will all be bargain prices.

It’s this Sunday 8th November 11am to 6pm at Barefoot Photography Studios, Bishops Chambers, 14 Cathedral Close, Exeter, EX1 1HA and it will be worth the effort.

Can you save me a hard tail?

We decided to do a secret ballot after the talk and let people enter there highest bid, we had alot of generous offers but in the end the winner of the poster was George Bridgeman…

I’m sure his donation will help to make alot of dogs and cats very happy!

You are cordially invited to Jo Holdaway’s free exhibition private view, upstairs at the howies Bristol store on 12th November at 6:30pm.  

You may have seen one of her colourful illustrations in Ride Magazine before, but it’s a whole new experience to see her work in large format.

By the way, if you smile nicely we will provide you with drinks so that your inner art critic isn’t parched whilst discussing the merits of Jo’s work.

Remember that the exhibition is open to all who stumble into the howies store until the 20th November, so if you can’t make it on the 12th , all is not lost.

I keep telling people it’s not cold, honestly.

Today though, I might cave.  The wind has picked up and the howies office has the windproofing properties of a sieve.

And on the way to lunch I spied the nice man with a van full of Second Skin jumpers.

James is counting them in right now.

If anything can make me give in it’s a merino jumper.

If you’re coming to the Wee Do tonight bring some cash with you…this is an awesome print!

The phone is back in business, so feel free to give us a ring, sorry about any inconvinience the last few days!

0207 287 2345

It’s that time of year again…the Christmas lights on Oxford Street are being turned on tonight.  Usually it’s a “well loved” British celebrity who does it.  Not this year…no no…it’s only going to be Jim Carrey!!!!!!!!

So make sure you’re down at Oxford Circus for 5pm

Financial Controller
Marketing and Communications

If you’re interested you can find out more by e-mailing jobs@coldatnight.co.uk

Emma Ras from our Carnaby St. shop has been busy knitting away these awesome iPod/iPhone/Blackberry/Phone/Camera cases.

We’re selling the full colour range in store and a select 6 online.

Alas, it’s goodbye to little Claire Margetts today.

She is leaving us to go off and help out on a polar expedition.

Claire has had a busy year arranging the Do Lectures and stuff.

But no matter how much pressure was on, that smile never faded.

And anyone who went to Do this year will tell you what a top girl she is.
(She’s a mean race car driver too apparently).

We wish her well. She will be missed.

Wrap up warm dear.

Hold onto your hats people!  We have the wonderful people (and dogs) from Battersea Dogs Home coming in next Tuesday 3rd November (7.30pm) to give a Wee Do lecture on their work – they will be bringing in two of their canine friends to assist with providing the more technical elements of the talk.

This is going to be a fantastic event.  We are massive dog people here at the Carnaby Street store - next to our till we have two dog breed books, a pack of 3d dog cards, and four dog puzzles.  We all prefer mutts, but we also just put together our top five dog breed lists to celebrate the moment.  What would yours be?

As an added bonus we are providing a sneaky 10% discount, for half an hour, at the end of the talk – just a little bonus seeing as we just took delivery of our winter collection. 

As usual the talk is free – however if you put your name down, but are unable to make it please let us know since others will loose out otherwise – just contact us at the store (our phones are down at the min) just email  carnabyst@howies.co.uk.  We will also have free organic beer and juice. 

We will be taking donations from attendees for Battersea Dogs Home should you feel so inclined. 

To say that I am excited is not a lie.

The artists design the pieces in the same way that pixels on a computer screen are coloured and organised to form images. As if that’s not complicated enough, they then have to actually work out each cube puzzle to get the colours they need. phew, seems like too much hard work.

When me and my sister we little we used to just peel off the coloured stickers and then stick them where we needed them to go on the cube. Cheating? perhaps…

You can hear us, but we can’t hear you.
sorry about this, we will get it sorted as soon as possible.

for the time being if you do have a question email the shop at: carnabyst@howies.co.uk and we will reply to it within the hour.

thanks
charlie

Today it’s November. That means it’s time to grow a Moustache.

If you haven’t heard of this annual challenge it’s called Movember and it’s to raise awareness to male health issues, in particular prostate, testicular cancers & mental health.

To make it even more exciting we’re challenging some of the guys from Innocent in a ‘tashe-off’

So ditch your razors and lets get in on!

and the winner is….Robert Ellis

it’s got a nice Hunchback of Notre dame feel about it.

Congratulations, you have officially won braggin rights for the next year!

Happy howies Halloween.

Rather than keep all our photos hidden here.

We just put up 5 galleries of photos from our Sweden Shoot. They loosely follow the our trip.

There are out takes and behind the scenes shots as well as beautiful pictures that couldn’t fit in the catalogues.

So click here to go to our flickr.

Or even better our IHKH page (it’s flickr but presented a lot, lot nicer)

If you want a daily dose of our photographs bookmark our blog; howies look.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have some news.  Today will be my last day steadying-ish the helm of the Carnaby Street store.

I have had an amazing time working for howies – a company that really does what it says on the tin.  It isn’t a marketing facade, the people who work for this company really are splendid – and what they are trying to do in changing the way people conduct business is actually working!  

I have been given the opportuntiy to move on and work with Sustrans on a variety of sustainable transport policy issues.  I am excited about what the future holds and also grateful for what I have learned and experienced over the past seven months.

It isn’t really a proper goodbye since I will still be loitering around at the Wee Do lectures and helping out with the occasional sample sale.  Also I have been promised a starring role in the next catalogue shoot – along with my own trailer and cold sparkling water whenever I ask.  So that is nice.

Without being too gushy, yet also also engaging with my sensitive nature, I wanted to thank all the customers who have come into the store over the past few months.  You guys have some seriously interesting lives.  Thanks for sharing your stories, jokes, cakes, germs, and giggles. 

Finally, if you haven’t yet had the chance to stop by the London store you are really missing out.  There are six really awesome people waiting for you to come in – so why not take five minutes, over the coming weeks or months, and pop in to say hello……..I promise it will be worth your while.

Hold onto your hats people!  We have the wonderful people (and dogs) from Battersea Dogs Home coming in next Tuesday 3rd November (7.30pm) to give a Wee Do lecture on their work – they will be bringing in two of their canine friends to assist with providing the more technical elements of the talk.

This is going to be a fantastic event.  We are massive dog people here at the Carnaby Street store - next to our till we have two dog breed books, a pack of 3d dog cards, and four dog puzzles.  We all prefer mutts, but we also just put together our top five dog breed lists to celebrate the moment.  What would yours be?

As an added bonus we are providing a sneaky 10% discount, for half an hour, at the end of the talk – just a little bonus seeing as we just took delivery of our winter collection. 

As usual the talk is free – however if you put your name down, but are unable to make it please let us know since others will loose out otherwise – just contact us at the store (0207 287 2345 / carnabyst@howies.co.uk).  We will also have free organic beer and juice. 

We will be taking donations from attendees for Battersea Dogs Home should you feel so inclined. 

To say that I am excited is not a lie.

On to the next one now.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Serious Sam Barrett plus shreddin equals a recipe for success, here’s his brand new video…

This is the Exposure Diablo with Redeye rear light.

We managed to blind ourselves with the rear one activating it, we daren’t look at the front light.

Can’t wait to test out these badboys.

Yesterday I stumbled across this car share website Mountain Ride Share, designed to connect people travelling to and from ski resorts.

Their website is in Beta at the moment- so why don’t you check out the site and help them develop this community, and maybe pick up some riding buddies along the way! 

If you apppeciate the mountains, you really should consider the effects your journey to them has.  Low budget airlines are not the way mes amis!

A friend of mine has just started this new project. Here’s some info in his own words;

Rock Sampler is an ongoing music contest where Artists upload their songs to be voted on by the community of Listeners. The tracks with the highest votes each month are featured in the charts and the top 4 are featured (amongst other picks, rarities and invited acts) on a free mp3 monthly music sampler available worldwide and can win awesome prizes and exposure. Not to mention new fans!

The aim of the website is to foster a real sense of community. We want to level the playing field, bust down the door and give the vote back to the people who love music. Our Listeners have the power to decide who the most talented, awesome Artists are. Not the radio station manager, not the out of touch major label boss. The highest voted artists will then be rewarded with exposure, prizes and a growing fan base.

Listeners will be able to discover exciting new music, play talent scout and vote on who they think are the best Artists. There will be opportunities for Listeners to win great prizes, follow bands they love and have access to the super high quality, limited edition monthly sampler, showcasing the best of the best that month!

Have a looksy here – rocksampler.com

The assembly today voted 187-3 in opposition to the embargo, with only Israel and the Pacific island nation of Palau siding with the US, as they did last year. The annual diplomatic ritual had extra resonance this year because of the slight thaw in Washington-Havana relations.

Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, told the meeting in New York that the embargo had cost the island tens of billions of dollars and denied medical care to children. “The blockade is an uncultured act of arrogance.”

He lamented that the new US president had failed to end an “ethically unacceptable” hangover from the cold war. “President Obama has a historical opportunity to lead a change of policy toward Cuba.”

Read more from The Guardian

or read more from ABC if you like.

I don’t know  much about this stuff but it seems pretty silly (on America’s part)

Well good news everyone! This Friday (the 30th) Small world Theatre and fforest Outdoors are opening the pizza oven from about 10.00am until 7.00pm for anyone that has £4.00 and some toppings!
So while your munching your pizza, grab a cup of tea and come say hello to us in Cardigan store. I’m sure we can open late for you, or maybe for some pizza…
…Yum!!

I was rewarded with a box full of glorious samples, this box contained so many cool things I didn’t know what to do, some of these samples look remarkably like our Fredrik Western shirts with a couple of small differences for a nice price. Exciting stuff…

On Monday, Paddy and I were having a flick through the blog at work and noticed hollie had put up a post about the ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ exhibition in London.

So yesterday we got up nice and early, cracked out the bacon sandwiches and made our way to the big city. After half an hour of staring at tube maps and an A-Z we made it to the Natural History Museum only to find a 2 hour queue!

Eventually we made it inside and found the exhibition and after about an hour of umm-ing and ahh-ing this little fella caught our eye….a picture in the category ‘One Earth’.

It was an amazing exhibition and I’d recommend anyone to go and see it if you can! It certainly sparked off a heated debate of the long standing issue of Canon vs Nikon between Paddy and I.

So after a long day of wandering around London we began our Krispy Kreme hunt…one meeting with a self titled ‘Ram the Info Man’ who, for small change will be your walking (and often running) talking sat nav. Eventually we stocked up on the glazed wonders and headed for the tube. 

Three stops later and minus one iphone, panic set in…a couple of hasty phone calls later and a very kind lady back at Covent Garden revealed that I had in fact left my phone on a seat and walked off without it. Three stops later (back the other way) I was reunited with the phone and after many a thank you and hug, a very tired pair of tourists made their way back home.

So we’d like to say a massive thank you to ‘Ram the Info Man’, the sweet looking penguin for making us smile and Stefana for bringing the phone back safe!