After 3 long and cold years stuck in between freezing English winters and the alleged “English Summer”, I have had enough and decided to pull up stumps and return to the warmer climates down under. So I guess you are asking, what does this mean for Echidna? The answer is – our customers are unlikely to notice any changes! The only difference is that I will now be posting all T Shirts from the southern hemisphere, which means it will take approx 5 working days to deliver to the UK / Rest of world and we can have your shirts delivered to Australian addresses within a couple of days – so great news for all of you who are living in Australia. We will also b changing our pricing format, and changing it from British pounds to Australian dollars. From our point of view, this will give us a great chance to get our range of Australian clothing ranged in local stores and markets… So watch this space and as we gain new stockists we will let you know where you can find our Aussie T Shirts! On a personal point of view, I am tired of looking like a pasty pom and looking forward to spending A LOT of time down at the beach and soaking up the summertime! The most difficult part of the whole moving business was trying to get all my stock on the plane without paying too much extra baggage fees!! Took a bit of “negotiating” (e.g. - begging) at the airport to get 30 odd KG’s of Australia T Shirts shifted in addition to my normal baggage… but the people at the airline were pretty cool and managed to get it all shipped through without being stung too much for extra baggage. So there you go, my plane landed at 5am on Saturday morning and I was at the Beach by 8am.. What a good way to celebrate getting home!

After 3 long and cold years stuck in between freezing English winters and the alleged “English Summer”, I have had enough and decided to pull up stumps and return to the warmer climates down under. So I guess you are asking, what does this mean for Echidna? The answer is – our customers are unlikely to notice any changes! The only difference is that I will now be posting all T Shirts from the southern hemisphere, which means it will take approx 5 working days to deliver to the UK / Rest of world and we can have your shirts delivered to Australian addresses within a couple of days – so great news for all of you who are living in Australia. We will also b changing our pricing format, and changing it from British pounds to Australian dollars. From our point of view, this will give us a great chance to get our range of Australian clothing ranged in local stores and markets… So watch this space and as we gain new stockists we will let you know where you can find our Aussie T Shirts! On a personal point of view, I am tired of looking like a pasty pom and looking forward to spending A LOT of time down at the beach and soaking up the summertime! The most difficult part of the whole moving business was trying to get all my stock on the plane without paying too much extra baggage fees!! Took a bit of “negotiating” (e.g. - begging) at the airport to get 30 odd KG’s of Australia T Shirts shifted in addition to my normal baggage… but the people at the airline were pretty cool and managed to get it all shipped through without being stung too much for extra baggage. So there you go, my plane landed at 5am on Saturday morning and I was at the Beach by 8am.. What a good way to celebrate getting home!

Hopefully you have enjoyed checking out our range of Australia T Shirts on this site. A lot of the people who buy our Australian clothing are Aussies living overseas. With this in mind we have created a page of links that can help you catch up with the expat community overseas. We have designed this page to hopefully make your time overseas a lot easier, and more importantly a hell of a lot more fun. The page is titled “Links for Aussies Overseas” and you can find if under the “Cool Links” page, (or click here www.echidnaclothing.com/coollink_2.htm)

We have included links that will help you catch up with Aussies, be that for social groups, sports clubs, business networking groups, even ANZAC dating in the UK. On this note, If you are involved in any Aussie Expat groups overseas, let us know the details and we will get you added to our directory - we reckon the more the merrier!

A lot of people have been asking me lately about our range of Australian Clothing, and what ethical considerations we have made when choosing suppliers. Essentially people want to know if our shirts have been made in sweatshops…

Anyway, in answer to that we’re Proud to say…..! No Way!!!!!! We make our clothing in a pretty simple fashion - we simply buy blank T Shirts, and then screen print them with our designs. Our clothing supplier is a member of the FAIR WEAR FOUNDATION. The FWF exists to promote fair labour conditions in the garment industry world wide; this means that our supplier has undersigned FWF’s Code of Labour practices, and committed itself to monitor the factories of its suppliers. The Fair Wear Foundation verifies that the Code of Labour Practices is actually implemented and respected at the factories. Leading international producers in the field of fashion have also joined FWF.

Therefore, you can rest assured if you are buying one of our Aussie T Shirts, either for yourself, or as an Aussie Gift for a mate, you are buying a product that has been ethically produced & has not been anywhere near a sweatshop

Ok I am a bit late in uploading this to the blog, but we have added 4 new designs to our range of Australian clothing. You can check these out on the site as of now… they are as follows:

- Hawkey Is My Homeboy
This design is a tribute to a man who set a world record for skulling a yard of beer, and also found time to govern australia. Who says men cant multi task?

- “Straight to the Pool Room” and “Tell Him Hes Dreaming”
Well, its probably pretty obvious what my favorite movie is if you take a bit of time to look at this site… But needless to say, “Straight To The Pool Room”, and “Tell Him Hes Dreaming” in my mind are two of the best aussie quotes ever. It never ceases to amaze me how many people come up and talk to me in public when I have been wearing these Australian T Shirts.

Goon - The Drink of Champions
Until I went travelling and did my O.E, I assumed teenagers / uni students in all countries spent their formative years drinking nasty, nasty wine from a plastic bladder , and then not being able to remember it. It appears this is not the case, and Goon, like a Marsupial, is a uniquely Australian product. With this in mind, Goon The Drink Of Champions, is the perfect Aussie T Shirt to remind you of your misspent youth.

As mentioned in my previous post, all these designs were really popular when we released them at Londons toast festival. They have all been popular in the lead up to Christmas also, with lots of loveley people choosing them as the perfect Aussie Gifts for their friends and loved ones!

When launching a new product, most brands will have a swanky product launch with lots of press at a flash hotel, But thats not really what we’re about, so I thought how could I launch Echidna Clothing in true blue style…

Then I came up with a foolproof plan…. Launch On Australia Day, In London, by handing out cold beers to thirsty Aussies roaming the streets in search of a party.

I set up an Aussie T Shirt Stall on Shepherds Bush Green, across the road from Londons famous Walkabout with 2 Industrial Sized Bins filled with Ice & Beers. ( I had just been made redundant from my job working in marketing for a brewery - So this was the last of my “staff allowance”)

Anyway, to cut a long story short - handing out free beers (the ultimate aussie gifts) to backpackers in a London park went down pretty well, and before we knew it had about 60 people partying at the Echidna Stall in the park. Loads of people bought Australian T Shirts off me and things were going well (or so I thought).

Like all product launches this one had to come to an end as well. However unlike most product launches - This one finished in me being apprehend by the local coppers and being done for providing liquor without a license, and for unlawful street vending!!! Not the way I wanted to finish the day - but in terms of a launch, was a great way to get the word out about Echidna and our new range of Australian Clothing.

Anyway, there are 2 morals to this story….
1. Free Beer is the best way of advertising Australia T Shirts - EVER
2. Its only a crime if you get caught… SO DONT GET CAUGHT!