Early days In the early 1970s, Dare Jennings owned a large and successful screen printing 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 art room. The graphics were initially created by in-house artists such as musician
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 1980s in the UK. As skateboarders wore much surfer-inspired clothing, Mambo board shorts in loud / Hawaiian patterns were worn by skaters. Other similar surf / skate brands around at the time were
Stüssy, 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. Allan's arrival at Mambo was followed by other Australian and overseas artists, including
Reg Mombassa,
Robert Williams (US) and Ben Frost.
Development In 1994, Mambo released its first "Loud Shirt", a design influenced by the traditional
Hawaiian Aloha shirt. The shirt was named "Blue Hawaii" by
Martin Plaza, a bandmate of
Reg Mombassa, and quickly became one of the company's best-selling products, establishing the signature Mambo "Loud Shirt" aesthetic. The following year, Mambo unveiled its first retail outlet, the "Mambo Friendship Store", in
Paddington, Sydney. The company subsequently expanded its retail presence, opening more stores across Australia and internationally in the UK,
Europe,
Asia, and New Zealand. By 2001, Mambo had established 25 independent retail stores worldwide. In 2000 Mambo received an invitation from the
Australian Wool Board to design the athlete's uniform for the
opening ceremony of the
2000 Summer Olympics in
Sydney. After the Summer Olympic Games, Jennings was approached by
Gazal Corporation to buy the brand. Jennings sold the company in March of that year and took over the role of creative director. Jennings left the company in 2002 and later went on to create the surf and moto-inspired brand
Deus Ex Machina. In 2006, Principle (an Australian research company) named Mambo "Australia's sixth-most-authentic brand" alongside
Bonds,
Speedo,
R. M. Williams and
Billabong. In 2008 Mambo was sold to The Nervous Investor Group, an Australian-based consortium headed by Angus Kingsmill and based in the Sydney beachside suburb of
Manly. In 2015 Mambo was sold to US clothing group
Saban Brands. In 2012, Mambo entered into partnerships with key players in the US and Brazil with plans to introduce the brand on a large scale in each country. In July 2019, Mambo was acquired by 60-year-old family-run brand Caprice Australia, bringing ownership of the Mambo brand to Australia. ==See also==