Using our multi denominational beliefs as a benchmark and code of doing business, working as multi media partners with anyone interested in working with us – we are at last back again! Our integrity is as important as our products, which are now being designed to gently guide you into a more conscious consumption, to tread as lightly as possible, with the final goal of
“ A sustainable and harmonious coexistence with planet Earth” – The Architects”
Have A Nice Day!
About us
TODAY’S STORY
In August 2005, the Have a Nice Day store in Notting Hill had a 4 week half price closing down sale. Customers initially thought this to be a relocation sale, the inevitable move to much needed larger premises! When questioned by some tearful teenagers, all we could say was that this was not the end of the story...and true to our word...Have A Nice Day, the urban fashion legend, after 17 years away...... is now finally back!
THE HISTORY OF...
Anthony Cooper admits to a checked career whilst learning his trade. Staring with Dizzy Skates in the 1980's, led him to take over Slick Willies, the
American Sports store in Kensington High Street. It was this move that
sparked his interest and love for Americana. Running one of the key American stores in London, led to the offer of being one of the first NFL licensees,
with Sports Cap. Followed by a stint as an independent agent for Fruit of the
loom, led to the creation of his first t-shirt-based fashion brand, Shark
Shirts, London -Los Angeles. Frustrated at his lack of lasting success, Anthony turned his attention to the music business, producing a pop song, Top
Cat Rap under license from Hanna Barbera. At the fore front of the then
technology, he set up a tiny Mac based recording facility – “Drink Me studios”, with a small complimentary Record Label called 100 2 One.
With odds like that.... and struggling to make ends meet, he accepted a
proposition to revive a large second-hand clothing store in Camden, the
American Rag Store. It was here, in a dark corridor, leading to the toilets,
that Have A Nice Day was born, as a Hanes American t-shirt concessionselling plain American sportswear, in all the sizes and colours. Searching for
an American sounding Trading name for the bank account, Ant came up
with the iconic ...Have A Nice Day!
By chance, Ant had again found himself in the right place...... at the right
time....the Summer of Love in Camden market, which was one of the go-to
shopping destinations for the exploding rave scene, whose chosen uniform
was.... brightly coloured XL American sportswear! It was not long before the
Sam the Man Have a Nice Day graphic followed, which was quickly adopted
by the ravers and so Have A Nice Day became a part of the cultural history
of the 1990's.
SAM HISTORY
After a number of re-draws, Ant was finally happy with the first Have A Nice Day logo -Sam the Man, so that he could register the trademark for his new brand. Working on his belief of mixing fashion and music, he recorded a Have A Nice Day Rave track, which after a mountain of free merchandise, he too persuaded BMG to release. Using the opportunity of the possible exposure a release by a major could create, he persuaded a Licensing Company to represent him, who lined up several Licensees on the back of the forth coming release. This catapulted Have a Nice Day into the High Street and suddenly the brand could be found in Selfridges, Boots, C&A, British Homes stores, P&O ferries, which all added to the myth of the brand. Who were we and where did we come from?
SHURL HISTORY
With the success of Sam the Man, Ant was on a roll!
Following the same 50's retro theme, Shurl the girl was
soon to be found on the drawing board. The initial
starting point was the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe
blowing a kiss. But always a stickler for detail, Ant
would not sign off the artwork, as they could not get
the lips of Shurl blowing a kiss right. After several
different versions and keen to get the graphic finished,
Ant came up with the solution of placing a big pink
bubble over the offending lips, which is how the iconic
image came into being!
HEY DAY ETC...
For multimedia design team, Anthony & Sheilah Cooper, the 90s really
was their heyday! The upstart fashion designers reigned supreme from
a little boutique in London’s fashionable Notting Hill Gate, exporting all
over the world. Having started with the simple premise of creating £10
graphic led t-shirts for their stall in Camden market, within 18 months,
their turnover had nudged the million mark! Their move to the fashionable Notting Hill, which they described as “a crossroads of the world”,
really put them on the international map and road to success!
Claims to fame included 3 pieces in the V&A Street Style exhibition,
London
Breaking the record for sales per linear foot in the Top Shop flagship
store, London.
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME...
Triumph, Tunes and T-shirts are the shape of things to come. Fashion is not restricted to just clothing, but is a
multi-faceted Zeitgeist snapshot, stretching form tee shirts to toothbrushes, an ever changing vibration, that
manifests itself through the popularity of a rotating colour palette, with corresponding musical rhythms.
Historically, every fashion movement can be identified by its look and music, from the Elizabethan to the
Beatles, the New Romantics, Punk, the Rave Scene – they were all clearly different and identifiable, mirroring
movements of political and social change. There is an urgent need for us to readjust the speed of our lives
and the way we consume, in fact our personal politics...... if we are to stem the tide of destruction of our
planet and it's eco system.
Have A Nice Day plans to use its brands to help manage social change, in what we buy and how we buy it. To
work towards restoring some sort of sense and balance to the madness of our current way of living –
are you in ???
DON'T DO THE DODO
BTKA
VORTEX
