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About Us

HEIR OF THE DOG

Mambo was born in 1984, under the concrete palms of industrial inner Sydney, Redfern, about as far from soul surfing as a Club Med surf camp. 

By the time we had missed our twenty third job interview and were being cut from government welfare support, the surf industry had grown up, and out, bloated on its own sense of importance (something that took us another ten years to achieve), and its staggering lack of creativity.

Our plan, once we had decided on a plan, was to ignore everything that was happening in the surfing industry, and to provide like-minded friends with a fairly authentic and reasonably intelligent product that would provide both entertainment and value for money, along with a reliable cash flow that would enable us to not have to do a runner when the bill arrived. Failing that, our Plan B was to have enough unsold product loaded into the van before the liquidators arrived, to give away as Christmas presents to friends and family for the next ten years.

But the liquidators never arrived, and Mambo grew from a precocious group of surfers, and itinerate artists clutching crayons and a second-hand sewing machine into an international surf and streetwear brand with a unique vision and a healthy disregard for account managers and following the advice of non-surfing MBA’s

In the future you can expect not only more of the same but even more as we continue to adjust our focus and operational needs to suit the ever changing demands of our loyal and constantly growing market. 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Mambo.  

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ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS AND SOURCING

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When we aren’t in the beer garden or trying to sneak off from work to go surfing or playing golf or looking forlornly at our skateboards, we do try and consider what we do and how we do it.

I’d be telling a lie if I said we personally travel the world looking for amazing factories, whose owners actually give a shit. Fortunately, those people do exist and they are the guys we buy from, who have made it their mission to do this on our behalf. In return, we pay a fair price for all our garments and accessories, so it is passed on to the people who make these amazing products.

They have a Code of Conduct unlike some of the surfers I have met over the years – who will remain nameless, Nick & Pete, and they build long term relationships and share a vision of doing their bit to rectify the damage we have knowingly or unknowingly, inflicted on our planet.

We aren’t about to stop wearing clothes, but we try and provide organic products that don’t need fertilisers which would eventually run into our oceans.

We insist on traceability in the supply chain so there is a conviction in what we tell you. The use of GOTS ( Global Organic Textile Standards ) is fundamental to our suppliers.

They involve themselves in the Better Cotton Initiative and removing plastics wherever they can. 

They work with REEMI which is a social enterprise and non profit organisation that exists to see that humans flourish wherever they live.

We also use the best organic inks and materials to add our Art to the products we supply. Gone are the days of plastic prints which never faded, looked sharp but the environmental damage was on par with Arnold Schwazenegger in the Terminator.