The Vintage T-Shirts Expedition

The hits just keep on coming from Kona this month. Matt has been meeting with business owners daily, telling them about what we do and adding more cool t-shirts to our Hawaiian collection by the minute.

Climbing on board last week:

• Winnie & Brian, the brother and sister team at Kimura’s Fabrics, a legendary family-owned establishment up mauka in Kealakekua that has been passed down through the generations.
• Tom at Greenwell Farms, one of the original coffee farms in Kona and one that is still in the family after 160 years!
• Ed from Jameson’s by the Sea, the venerable Magic Sands Beach restaurant with fantastic people watching and sunset views.
• And, Bobby from the beloved Keei Café. Not only do they have a spectacular view of the Kona coast and serve some of the best food on the island, the entire restaurant is made out of koa: the tables, the chairs, the artwork, you name it. Matt has a ‘thing’ for koa. There was no way he wasn’t going to sign these guys up after walking in that room.

This just in: construction zone photos. We’ve been begging Matt to send us some pics of the new t-shirt shop space in Kona, and now that he finally has, I think it’s safe to say we understand why he was reluctant. It looks like, um, a lot of work.

Still, we have faith. After seeing what Matt and the crew did during our Fremont store build-out, taking an old construction trailer and turning it into a retro plywood paradise, we know this shop will be just as cool when he’s done with it.

Our printing press is working overtime to get all our existing and new t-shirts over to Hawaii in time for our grand opening in Kona next month, and the designs just keep on coming. The lastest list of sign-ups includes:

• Oshima’s Dry Goods—age-old general store in Kealakekua
• Kona Canoe Club—awesome shirt for this new cafe
• Lulu’s—one of the hottest clubs in the islands
• Paniolo Country Inn—old fashioned, cowboy restaurant
• Big Island Divers—one of the best dive shops on the Kona Coast
• Jackie Rey’s Ohana Grill—an awesome new restaurant in Kailua