Our Story started 10 years before the first ever Fat Willy’s T-shirt was printed…
Late 1970’s : How it all began…
Roger Ward (our Dad) started printing T-shirts in his twin brother’s garage. T-shirt transfers had become all the rage in the US and he would fly to New York on a Monday morning, fill 8 large cargo bags full of t-shirt transfers, fly home that evening, print the t-shirts during the week and on Saturday’s drive them to Cornwall to sell.
He certainly clocked up some travel miles in his trusty Volvo!
1984 : Roger’s Eureka moment!
On one of those transatlantic flights, Roger had a true lightbulb moment, let’s call it the Fat Willy’s Surf Shack epiphany! The concept came to him fully formed – he pictured the now iconic neon colours, the cool graphic logo, the store with tropical plants and bamboo, a store welcoming for all the family with a jukebox playing the rock and roll he loved.
Inspired by his transatlantic travels and experiences, Roger wanted to build something different and right by the sea in Cornwall, home of the UK’s surf. He didn’t just set out to sell T-shirts. He was a matchmaker at heart and driven by a desire to connect people to holiday experiences they would remember, those feel-good, family moments that would remain with each of them long after they had arrived home.
1985 - 1987 : The First Two Stores Open…
The first Fat Willy’s Surf Shack opened in Newquay. It started life as a T-shirt transfer printing shop with a “pop up for the Fat Willy’s merch” at the back and this area quickly became the hub of the shack as happily, our customers chose Fat Willy’s over the custom transfer t-shirts.
Our second store opened in 1987 in quintessentially Cornish St Ives’s. By then we had dropped the transfer tees, extended our own range and as they say in the movies, the rest is history. Always focusing on creating joy and memories for people from the moment they stepped inside our Surf Shacks, Roger believed that if you gave people an excellent experience, great products, and genuine value, the business-side would take care of itself. And it did.
1989 – 1994 : International Surf Shacks…
A second Newquay shop opened, followed by an incredible 25 others over the next 5 years – at all the great seaside locations around the globe including Barbados, Mallorca, Newport Beach, LA, Blackpool, East Looe and Brighton.
1995 - 2000
Seeing Fat Willy’s Surf Shacks dotted across the world was certainly exciting, but Roger decided it was time to bring it back to where it all began...by the sea in Cornwall. Because to Roger, the Southwest was the best place in the world.
The place that contained the real heart of his Fat Willy’s Surf Shack vision.
2000 - Present Day
And Roger was right... four decades later, the grandchildren of his first customers are standing in the same shops, feeling the same emotion, excitement and memories their grandparents felt. It’s still a family-run business, his son’s and their families are looking after those stores, built by one family and catering to all families,
because there is simply no other place like the Fat Willy’s Surf Shacks......
As for the name, FAT WILLY’S SURF SHACK, Cornish folklore varies on this one… Some say it came from a legendary surfer friend of Roger’s from the Newquay area; others say it appeared to him in a flash of inspiration, glowing in multicoloured neon letters, a welcoming beacon that still shines today. The real story? That’s for you to decide.