They were owned by Madison (well, the people that own Madison - H Young) - if you want some present day Animal gear a lot of it was just the same as Madison's stuff rebranded.
my comments about "tragic" fashion were entirely aimed at once-great brands now sold off & run by bean-counters rather than enthusiasts! You can be tragic whatever your age, that has nothing to do with it 😉As for looking ” tragic” or ” trying too hard” I’m 65 still wearing hoodies, denim jeans ( without elasticated waist!) skate shoes or DMs
Thanks zilog with you re bean counters , they sound the death knell wherever they go 🙁 should wear a cloak and carry a scythe ☠️
Maybe I'm not old enough but I'm not sure they were ever cool were they?
Maybe I’m not old enough but I’m not sure they were ever cool were they?
Come on then, list us a few cool brands then.
I always had doubts about brands you could buy without having to travel to a different continent.
Maybe Aussies and Hawaiians felt the same about Fat Willy's and Animal as we did about Billabong and Hot Tuna before they had European distribution.
I still like Animal though, nice people in the Weymouth store but not been in it for a year...
My Animal wetsuits are great and I wished I'd bought a couple of spares while I had the opportunity. Hopefully all the staff there have found alternative employment.
They were my T-shirt maker of choice through sixth form and uni in the late 90s, and I had several watch straps, wallets and the 001 watch.
Their T-shirts got gradually thinner over that time, and the watch ate a battery a year.
‘Cool’ is an illusion, and for a fat 46 year old - a fantasy.
I’m wearing my black Animal fleece now, I’ve been wearing the red one for some time and it could do with a wash. I love the simplicity of it, it’s just the right weight, it has a small animal text logo on the left breast in red, and the claw logo on the neck at the back, and not having cuffs as such means that there’s no elastic to stretch and sag after a couple of years. Mine have got to be twenty+ years old, possibly older, and if ME were to do new ones like them I’d buy some more in different colours. With a thin base laye and an ultralight down jacket they’re perfect for the weather at the moment.
‘Cool’ is an illusion,
It’s for interwebz influencers and daft people with more money than taste; I’ll wear what the hell I want, at 67 I’m too old and sodding cranky to put up with anyone questioning what I choose to wear - I didn’t give a shit at 17, fifty years on I’m coming up even shorter on the number of ****s I couldn’t give for other peoples opinions.
Ah Hot Tuna! I had a load of T-shirts in the 90's that lasted for years. Pride of place went to my Bula hat, I thought I was the dogs in that! 😁
Ah Hot Tuna!
Yeah, I’ve got a Hot Tuna tee, and a tank/vest, the tee is a sort of orangy pink colour, with a big dayglo and black fish logo on the back. The tank top is white, IIRC, with the same dayglo and black fish, it’s lurking in a drawer somewhere, I’ll have to dig it out now the warmer weather is here. There used to be a local mountain biking travel company called Rough Tracks, I think. Print company I worked for did all their print and design and I went on one of their holidays in France, in the Parc du Volcans, and there was a photo in the brochure of a bunch of us at a café, with me wearing my Hot Tuna top!
Great holiday, I took my Cannondale M800 Beast Of The East with an original pair of orange Bombers that I had fitted to it.
I always thought that Animal was just a brand label without any real product. They slapped the word Animal on anything to make it 'cool' like the Nissans. Now I learn that they made watch straps.
It is like discovering a 'cool' brand that does extreme sports, crazy stunts and even F1 racing is basically a fizzy drinks company.
At least now they are owned by MW they will just be a brand label.
reckoned I might fancy a nice bright red hoodie and cap, comes to £55 so free shipping - great!
Adding the discount code takes the total down to £49.50 so an added £4.50 shipping. 😐 That gives me pause for thought, the thought being, nah, I'm not that arsed. Sorry Animal, your checkout policy lost you an order there.
It is like discovering a ‘cool’ brand that does extreme sports, crazy stunts and even F1 racing is basically a fizzy drinks company.
back to front there - they're not a Fizzy Drinks company. Red Bull isn't a drinks company that also sponsors events its an events company that also sells drinks. When their name is on an event its their event - they're not the sponsor. The drinks were a later add-on.
I wonder whether part of their problem was in having a name that is just a generic noun so couldn’t really be searched for on a search engine. I used to look for Animal watches on eBay and it threw up all sorts of crap.
I wonder whether part of their problem was in having a name that is just a generic noun so couldn’t really be searched for on a search engine.
Given that Animal predate most internet search engines, and eBay, I doubt that was at the front of their mind when they were branding.
My wife and I had snowboard jackets from Animal and they were great, but that was nearly 20 years ago 😳
@maccruiskeen, isn't it the other way around? They started as a drinks company in the 80s then created the events in the 90s and 00s?
Here’s my two Animal fleeces, they’re so easy to wear, and comfortable, and because the sleeves don’t have an elastic cuff, it’s easy to push the sleeves up without going baggy.
Just having the small logo on the front and the ‘claw’ on the back means they’re fairly subtle. I’d love a couple more in different colours if they reintroduced them. The white flecks on the black one are bits of down from my Quechua down jacket, cheap, but they leak like sieve!
Dug my Hot Tuna tee out, a bit creased, but it hasn’t been worn for some time. Wearing it right now, it’s a bit faded, it was a brighter pink when I bought it, probably early 90’s, maybe late 80’s. Buggered if I can remember now.
