Plain Lazy - Fresh and Funky designs for street, skate, and surf individuals! Plain Lazy offer Fast and Easy payments and there are brand new products updated weekly on the Plain Lazy site. Only up to date stock is featured on the Plain Lazy site.

HISTORY - The Plain Lazy Evolution

Here’s the story of the birth of Plain Lazy - the most dynamic, imaginative, in ya face and down right cheeky clothing label created for those who appreciate a more relaxed attitude to life...

1974 – Mark Hagley (yes he’s only 30) was born, for the next 19 years he surfed, slept and skated his way through life until...

Spring 1993
...call it fate, call it luck (some people call it an accident) but in 1993 Plain Lazy was started. At this very young age Mark was doing what every other 19 year old was doing, college. He had chosen to ‘study’ an HND in Leisure at Southampton Institute. Part of the course was work experience, but as this didn’t appeal to him in the slightest he decided to set up his own business (as you do). Whilst most students were busy drinking away their student loans, Mark spent his on starting up a small clothing company (once again as you do). He then became a proper business man and bought himself a Motorola mobile, unfortunately it was the size of a small family house. He then invented a new lifestyle, ‘Surf Yuppie’. 6 months flew past and it was clear to him that he had found his destiny in life, to be a business man with a big phone. Why bother wasting your time with college?

Mark sold his beloved Renault 5 and bought a multi purpose, high tech and furiously fast Bedford van to aid him in his quest to get Plain Lazy noticed around the country. In between trying to convince shops to stock Plain Lazy apparel Mark still managed to sleep AND surf. The Plain Lazy UK tour had begun!

Ocean to Earth in Weymouth and Down by the Sea in Polzeath were the first to take pity on Mark and buy some t-shirts but they only did it because he needed a haircut (see below). No seriously, they were the first to take the plunge and risk stocking Plain Lazy, and to this day they are still valued accounts, with Plain Lazy as one of their top selling brands.

So far Mark had relied on word-of-mouth and running round the country to get Plain Lazy into the public domain. Now it was time for some advertising, he turned to Wavelength magazine (which Plain Lazy still advertises in today) and blew the rest of his student loan on a full page, full colour advert. That was the start, now Plain Lazy advertise in numerous magazines.

With his business and entrepreneurial skills growing as fast as the brand, Mark was able to enter a competition for young business men/women called ‘Live Wire’. The competition was designed for up and coming entrepreneurs to display their talents and ideas and the prize for winning your area round was £500. This was another chance for Plain Lazy to be noticed. He won. Mark had proven to himself and the judges that Plain Lazy had the potential to be an extremely successful brand. He had displayed the skills and knowledge of someone far more experienced. The money came in handy too; he was getting some serious pressure from the bank so all of it went to them. Always good to keep the bank manager sweet! Unfortunately once again he could not afford a haircut.

1994-1998
Mark spent the next few years travelling around the UK, taking part in many trade and retail shows, including 40 Degrees, Glastonbury, Bug Jam and Fistral Beach Surf Festival. He lived and breathed Plain Lazy and worked every hour possible, he had come too far to quit now. He acquired a large marquee to help him display his array of goods. The marquee even had an interesting history to it, it was none other than Carl Fogarty’s racing tent! For those of you who don’t know who he is, he was a multi-world superbike championship winner and multi-Isle of Man TT winner. Mark was racing ahead! There were many highs and a few lows, including surfing at Fistral (high) and getting covered in mud at Glastonbury (high or low depending on your fondness for mud). Every show was a chance to learn that little bit more, make new friends and helpful future contacts and most importantly make some money!

Question : How do you get maximum exposure for a new label? Answer : Sponsor someone!

Who better to sponsor than Alan Stokes who, if you didn’t know, is currently UK surf champion (when Plain Lazy sponsored him he wasn’t though!). Not a bad start eh? Mark also sponsored a few drag racers at various Beetle and drag events (by drag I mean car, not Trevor who likes to be called Tracey at the weekends drag). When you think about it extremely fast drag cars are the exact opposite of Plain Lazy, something like a Reliant

Robin would be far more suitable. Now that’s a thought Reliant Robin drag racing...

Currently Plain Lazy are sponsoring Lee Debuse, he’s only 16 but is already one of the best up and coming wake boarders in the country. He’s only been boarding since he was 14 and has just completed his first competitive year (2003-2004). He came 2nd in the boat tour, the boat nationals, cable nationals and the cables for cash in ‘03’04 and hopes to move up a place in the new year! He’s a massive talent and we hope to continue to sponsor him for years to come.

1998
Although people were getting excited about the brand, Plain Lazy’s friendly bank manager was slow to understand it takes time to build a good brand reputation. It also takes time to raise cash; it was a classic catch 22. Relatively Plain Lazy was still a small business with little power to buy big quantities of stock so it was purely down to buy some, sell some, buy some, sell some. Mark was travelling so much that he had to pay for fuel, accommodation (well he slept in the back of the van!) and food etc, this was eating into any profit he was making. Running a business was becoming more and more difficult and stressful as every day passed. Now was the crunch time - should Mark shutdown Plain Lazy and get a boring regular job like working in a bank? (No offence to bank managers, lovely people its just a boring job).

Mark and Plain Lazy had come an awful long way, too far to give up now. He decided to give up the UK tour and open up a shop in Lewes, East Sussex. Now you might think that Lewes wasn’t the ideal place to open up a surf/skate/lifestyle shop but Marks laziness’ kicked in again, he lived in Lewes with his beautiful wife, Katie.

2000 Into the new millennium Marks shop was flourishing, he stocked many brands including Plain Lazy (Airwalk, Billabong etc) and was beginning to reap the rewards of owning your own business. Cash flow increased considerably which kept the bank manager and Katie more than happy!

There were 7 months of bliss making easy money, Mark thought he was made. However, Mark’s dream was about to be destroyed. 12th of October 2000 the worst ever flash floods recorded hit Sussex and demolished the entire shop along with many other businesses and homes overnight and left the whole of Lewes in tatters for the next 6 months. The scenes of devastation were broadcast around the country. National interest in the plight of Plain Lazy was the only silver lining...

2001
Mark made the decision not to open another shop; instead he went down the root of opening up an online store. Mark found a unit in a sleepy village called Laughton (sheep and ducks ta bout) and setup an office/warehouse. Plain Lazy had cows walking past their front door, talk about close to nature. He continued to thrive as a wholesaler and was now running a very prosperous mail order company. He took on more staff to manage the influx of orders, Plain Lazy was back with a thriving business, opening accounts at a phenomenal rate. He hired Dan Alliston (ugly chap with the goaty) to be his sales manager and to spearhead the campaign for world domination! 10 Plain Lazy secret agents were soon hired and before we knew it Plain Lazy had more than 300 independent accounts. Plain Lazy also now stocked Freespirit in all their stores and have just started supplying John Lewis in 6 of there stores. After 7 yrs of building the label Plain Lazy was finally established as a main player in the street/skate/surf clothing market. And yes Mark had made it, he’d finally got a haircut.

In 2002 Mark had a son and realised there weren’t any cool clothes for babies to wear, so he promptly came up with ‘Lazy Baby’, a brand new line for Plain Lazy. He had always wanted to produce fair trade clothing and this side line enabled him to fulfil his ambition. There was a conspiracy going round that Mark was just creating clothes to fill his wardrobe and clothe his family... . With a wife and son to stay at home for, he invested in a comfy armchair and flash computer to watch over the business and be creative!

Plain Lazy expanded once again licensing its stationary to Helix Ltd increasing Plain Lazy’s popularity with the high street shopper. Plain Lazy now had recognition as a proper business, Plain Lazy were even in an add for Office World in the Daily Mail!

It was now about time to have a range specifically designed for ladies and in 2003 Mark gave way to constant ear bending by all the females in his life and set up Lazy Lady. This proved to be an instant success; the quality brand for the modern lady continues to go from strength to strength. With Plain Lazy’s extensive range of products it was time to move on. Plain Lazy had outgrown its tiny offices - it was time to get big... .

2004
Once again we moved closer to Marks house, how lazy? Plain Lazy are so close he can cycle to work! Situated in a bigger warehouse which is 10 times the size of our little country abode. Rather dangerously Plain Lazy are close to approximately 50 pubs, quick drinks after work can turn in to all night benders!

The Future
Plain Lazy's aim is to spread Plain Lazy to mainland Europe, Australia and the big ‘ol US of A! Although if you see any t-shirts in Bangkok or Malaysia then beware they are fake! Keep checking here for updates...

Plain Lazy is growing so fast, they expect to be stocking shops on the moon very soon (space suits and moon boots currently being designed)

PLAINLAZY PHILOSOPHY