Kool Africa

We are Richard and Lynda.


Here is how Lynda describes herself: “a crazy dog lover, a gym bunny, a creative junkie who doesn’t enjoy Star Wars, an ex scrapbook fundi, a delighted mom and a triathlon newbie ”. Her most fervent desire is that one day she will make something that will impress her mom.

Richard, in his own words is: “mad about mountain biking, a lover of water, barley & hops, a visionary, the worst singer EVER, a seeker of perfection and a marine fish tank nerd.

How did we get into this business anyway?

A while back we were involved with the leader in the tourist related gifting industry. We learned a lot, but there came a time when we wanted to strike out on our own. So, we did a little market research – well, let’s say we combined market research with a lot of travel and even more cycling. It was educational (also, we admit, a lot of fun) and at the end of this sojourn we had some great ideas, plus a new baby girl named Sinead (we told you we had fun!).

In our travels we saw many gift shops crammed with junk – and expensive junk at that – for unsuspecting tourists to buy. The t-shirts were especially chintzy, and we thought we could do much better. We thought surely there’s a market for quality, hand pressed, locally produced garments. T-shirts that are bold, provocative, witty, trendy and most importantly – that SELL.

So, we created Kool Africa, and came up with the tagline, “Don’t buy cheap S#*!”.

But then we realized that Kool Africa left out an important part of the market – kids! We needed a fun brand that was just for kids.

After a few glasses of the Cape’s finest and some minor domestic arguments, we came up with the “Little Monkeys Only” brand. We designed these t-shirts to have cool facts, lots of imagination and plenty of individuality. We wanted the little ones to jump into another world when they put our shirts on. We took notes from Ciara, our five year old (also known as our guinea pig), because she’s seen so many worlds in our travels, she seems to be in a constant state of motion.

Voila! “Little Monkeys Only” has been a huge success!

To sum up, our philosophy is: Think big, demand a lot from ourselves, have a sense of humour, include some well-deserved sundowners, and appreciate the journey along the way.

Coolio