CAMDEN—A casual and comfortable clothing retailer with a fun name marks the second clothing shop opening on Bayview Street in Camden this spring. FatFace, a U.K. company, is set to open their second Maine store on Saturday, March 30. With 14 locations in the U.S., the Camden store is their 15th store to open in New England.

With more than 200 stores in the U.K., it’s a bit of surprise to learn that the founders weren’t initially business types—far from it. In fact, it’s safe to say they were a couple of ski bums. Here’s the story: Two guys, Tim Slade and Jules Leaver graduated college in 1988. Not interested in getting “real” jobs, they took an extended vacation in skiing in the French Alps. Inevitably, they ran out of money, but still not wanting to go into the ‘real world,’ they decided instead to print up a bunch of t-shirts and sweatshirts and sell them out of the back of their beat up camper van.

“This is my favorite story,” said Marketing Manager, Spenser Guay. “They had both just finished college in the U.K. Back in those days, you were expected to get an office job, but instead they went on this extended skiing trip to their favorite ski run, La Face. And after finding this surprise success in selling these graphic tees out of their van, they decided to combine the British slang word ‘Fat’ which means ‘cool’ with their favorite mountain.”

Fast forward 30 years later and the two ski bums have made themselves quite the impressive brand. “I like to describe FatFace as a corporation that has 244 stores that still operates like it’s just the first store they started in 1992,” said Guay.

One of the company’s tagline’s is  “Embrace life outside the 9 to 5” and Guay described the clothing store’s style as “on-trend, outdoor casual and classic.” There is clothing for men, women and children, as well as accessories.

“Back when they [the founders] had no money, they wanted value for every dollar they got, so they insist on each clothing piece being a quality product,” he said.

The company also insists on responsible and sustainable sourcing and gets their products from more than 150 trusted and well integrated sourcing partners from over 10 countries globally.

The store is set to open Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 10 a.m and will have a smattering of light refreshments to welcome people in.

For more information and to see the clothing styles visit: fatface.com/en