Tell your Story

Howies are a Welsh based clothing company. Last week they made some new cycling stuff  and someone on twitter asked what I thought of it. Not that much I said.

It just looked un-remarkable. Five minutes later Howies are on twitter defending their product pointing out the unique features in their products, conducting a damage limitation exercise on social media. They were right their new tops are seamless (literally), good spec, some reflectiveness and some high quality zips and pockets on them. Thing is I had made my mind up after a quick look as people do and they had missed their chance to tell me all about it, they didn't grab my attention, they didn't tell their story.

Now Howies used to be owned by a man called David Hieatt a former advertising copyrighter turned clothing maker, part time environmental campaigner and a host of other good ideas all rolled up into a brand. He could tell a story. His story's were sometime better than his clothes. He could explain why a product was better for the planet and better for you. He got you thinking. I often used to browse their site for ideas rather than clothes.

One of the reasons cycle Harrogate exists is because of David Hieatt. He is a big one for just doing things, for getting on and ignoring all the negativity the word throws at us. I like his phrase "Done is better than perfect".  Somebody needed to really try and get Harrogate cycling, it might as well be me.

So excuse my often shocking grammar, my poorly constructed sentences and my occasional boring posts. I'm going to keep trying to tell the story of why cycling is so important for us all as a way of getting around. I will whinge on about why we need local government to do more to make it easier for people to ride their bikes, because if I don't maybe nobody else will.

I won't be buying a Howies cycling top, I cycle around in everyday clothes for the most part, I'm fat and forty I would look pretty scary in stretch clothing and my children would laugh or cry. If your looking for a decent cycling top though, you could do worse than look at the Howies ones. They have some interesting features below the surface. Oh and if you ever want a pair of jeans, David Hieatt is running a company making world beating jeans now and he doesn't tell quite so many stories.