questions for howies?

Here's a message from Caroline at Campaign:

"Campaign’s running its Yahoo! Big Ideas Chair interviews again this year and the first one’s with Dave Hieatt. He and his partner Claire quit their overpaid jobs and sold their house to set up Howies. I'd like to hear if you have any questions to throw at Dave. Ethical, media, business...it’s all valid. The interview’s on February 1 so please make it fast. Big thanks."

If you've got questions for Caroline to throw at Dave please stick them in the comments below. thanks.

Comments

[Toby Southgate]

I'd really like to hear Dave and Clair tell us some more about the recent deal they did with Timberland. Specifically, what their involvement will be and how they plan to maintain the integrity and social conscience of the brand they've created. Also why, since they're usually so good at sharing information and news on their site, they don't seem to have mentioned the deal since it was announced.

[russell]

thanks Toby, good stuff.

there was this on the Howies blog:

http://www.howies.co.uk/page.php?xPage=posting.html&id=563&cdate=2007_01_30&dm=x&limit=80

[Will]

I've got a couple:

1) Is the Howies brand voice truly representative of you both? That is, do you live your lives according to the brand values, or vice versa?

2) Do you think the Howies brand could translate into other products/services?

[Rob Forshaw]

If you were to employ an advertising agency who would it be and why?

[Matt]

Was there a defining moment where you both decided you would actually go for it, sell up and 'live the dream'? I've heard that the Innocent Smoothie guys all just reached a point where they realised if they weren't going to actually do it, they needed to stop banging on about it!

[aliceinadland]

Rob,

Check this article on Campaign for an answer to half of your question: http://www.brandrepublic.com/login/index.cfm?fuseaction=Login&resource=BR_News&articleType=news&article=625907

[Ben]

Why are you called Howies?

(And a much longer question that I keep rewriting).

[Ben]

The line "cardigan bay's 3rd biggest clothing company" is brilliant, charming and has served you well. Post Timberland will that now change?

(And that wasn't supposed to sound as Question Time as it reads.)

[Ollie]

some questions:
1) does slow, steady growth rule out world domination and the mass changing of opinions and lifestyles to the howies' model?
2) how much playtime do the directors of a company that emphasises playtime actually get? will this change with the take over? was this a contibuting factor?
3) ever thought of branching out into other apparel or using a larger selection of sustainable fabrics? silk, leather, hemp, footwear?
4) got any jobs going?

[mark]

I'd love to know what they think of the innocent brand and their tone of voice. The similarities between the brands blows me away and I've wondered if howies think innocent borrowed from their ethical/friendly positioning.