Industry | Retail |
---|---|
Founded | 1984 |
Founders | Dare Jennings and Andrew Rich |
Headquarters | Alexandria, Sydney, Australia |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Parent | Saban Brands |
Website | Official website |
Mambo Graphics (also, 100% Mambo) and marketed as Mambo is an Australian company designer of surf and street clothing. It was launched in 1984, by musician Dare Jennings and business partner, Andrew Rich in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria. On January 6, 2015 it was announced that Mambo was acquired by Saban Brands
In the early 1970s Dare Jennings owned a large and successful screenprinting business Phantom Textile Printers, producing T-shirt and fabric prints for a variety of commercial clients. He also owned an independent record label, Phantom Records.
Mambo began life as an “after hours” project in the Phantom artroom. The graphics were initially created by in-house artists such as Jodi Phillis, and by freelance artist, Richard Allan whose first T-shirt graphics, ‘Real Wrestlers, Real Wrestling’ and, ‘Call Of The Wild (Farting Dog)’ were the best sellers..
'100% Mambo' clothing was often available in surf / skate shops in the mid to late 80s in the UK. As skateboarders naturally wore a lot of surfer inspired gear, Mambo board shorts in loud / Hawaiian patterns were ideal skate wear. Other similar surf / skate brands around at the time were Stussy, Life's A Beach and Vision Street Wear. As this was long before skate culture became mainstream (e.g. skate shops often only sold Vans, Vision or Converse shoes), these were usually niche products.
Mambo is an Australian surf and street clothing brand. It was found by Dare Jennings and business partner Andrew Rich at Alexandria in Sydney in 1984.
Richard Allan’s arrival at Mambo was followed by other Australian and overseas artists including, Reg Mombassa (guitarist and original member of Australian rock band, Mental As Anything), Robert Moore, Paul McNeil, Marcelle Lunam, Matthew Martin, Gerry Wedd, Robert Williams (US), Trevor Jackson (UK), Stephen Bliss (UK), Rockin’ Jelly Bean (Japan) and more recently, Josh Petherick, Ben Frost, Kelly Smith, Marty Schneider and Kareena Zerefos.
Mambo opened its first store in 1995. Located in the Sydney suburb of Paddington, called the ‘Mambo Friendship Store’. Stores opened in other Australian cities and in the UK, Europe, Asia and NZ. By 2001 Mambo had opened 25 independent retail stores.