Against The Tide

Katy Peck

As the saying goes ‘You do not know what you have until it is gone’ and so it was with Cornish fashion brand Flying Dodo… Casting back to the Summer of 1992, the Kramer family were living on a smallholding high up on Bodmin Moor, having moved from central London ten years earlier with little more than a hope and an alternative vision for change from the choked up city. After a variety of different jobs, rearing livestock & growing their own vegetables and children, funds shrunk to almost microscopic levels…

As needs must, undaunted by the recession of the early nineties and their bank managers opposition, they used their little previous fashion and business background to open the Flying Dodo Clothing shop in Truro. The general idea was to bring something different to the area as there was very little choice in those days and no internet! They filled the shop with way-out fashion and began to craft their own home-made, Flying Dodo branded tops and trousers in their barn on the Moor. Dodo quickly became a local cult brand in the grunge world of young people in the early nineties.

The Flying Dodo range was quickly taken up by our family based on the North Coast of Cornwall, as an obvious go to for their wonderful soft fleece linings, bright styles and long-standing designs, the brand was an instant hit within the Peck Family Clan, suiting our relaxed outdoor lifestyle. My favourite ensemble at the age of 10 being my lilac to purple tie-dyed oversized jumper, with its voluminous yellow Flying Dodo logo emblazoned on the front, and Ska inspired black and white cheque trousers.

Going off the radar after a short hiatus, the Flying Dodo is now back with a renewed passion, e-commerce website and fresh designs, suiting a new era of laid back Cornish style, with their manifesto to responsibly sourced, good quality, casual clothing, that are natural, organic and sustainable.

Christmas presents this year shall be an easy fix for my sisters and nieces, as the Flying Dodo brand will once again become the family’s go-to for hoodies and jumpers, to be worn during great days spent out on Cornwall’s beaches. However, there is one piece I have set aside for myself…

Should you be looking to find a piece of Cornwall to take home with you after your luxury self-catering stay, that inspires you with all that makes Cornwall the frontier of new thinking, and fresh concepts inspired by the sea and wild expanse of moorland, why not take a look at the Flying Dodo website, and treat yourself to a slice of Cornwall.