Editing Mambo Graphics (section)

=== Early days ===
In the early 1970s, Dare Jennings owned a large and successful screen printing business, Phantom Textile Printers, producing t-shirt and fabric prints for a variety of commercial clients. He also owned an independent record label, [[Phantom Records]]. Mambo began life as an "after-hours" project in the Phantom art room. The graphics were initially created by in-house artists such as musician [[Jodi Phillis]], and by freelance artist, Richard Allan whose first t-shirt graphics, 'Real Wrestlers, Real Wrestling' and 'Call Of The Wild (Farting Dog)' were the best-sellers.

'100% Mambo' clothing was often available in surf / skate shops in the mid- to late 1980s in the UK. As skateboarders wore much surfer-inspired clothing, Mambo board shorts in loud / Hawaiian patterns were worn by skaters. Other similar surf / skate brands around at the time were [[Stüssy]], Life's A Beach and [[Vision Street Wear]]. As this was long before skate culture became mainstream (e.g. skate shops often only sold [[Vans]], Vision or [[Converse (lifestyle wear)|Converse]] shoes), these were usually niche products.

Allan's arrival at Mambo was followed by other Australian and overseas artists, including [[Reg Mombassa]], [[Robert Williams (artist)|Robert Williams]] (US) and Ben Frost.