A question our Kona staff heres over and over again is, “Do you guys have hats for these places too?” And now we do. Well, almost anyway. We currently have five of our favorite Hawaiian Destee-Nation designs (plus a couple from our store) embroidered on quality baseball caps, and more are on the way for many more of our member businesses.
Yet another way to show your local pride!
When Matt and Co. filmed the TV commerical in Kona earlier this month, Lyman Medeiros also interviewed Matt about Desteenation and our mission to sell vintage t-shirts from beloved, local establishments. We were pleased that they chose to include the bit about Teshima’s Restaurant and to include footage of Mrs. Teshima. She’ll be celebrating her 100th birthday this year, and we’re all excited to honor her and support such a terrific local restaurant.
You can watch the interview by visiting the Big Island TV website and clicking on the ‘Features’ link and then clicking on Desteenation.
Click here to see all of our Hawaiian t-shirts.
Only one week after what we’re told was an exciting day at the Kona Store with the Big Island TV crew, including the legendary Lyman Medeiros and our new friend Sam Choy, we have a real, honest-to-goodness TV commercial airing on the Big Island.
We’ll get it streaming here in a few days. In the meantime, you can check it out on the Big Island TV website by clicking on the ‘Shopping’ link and then clicking on Desteenation.
In addition to talking story down at the docks and wheeling and dealing with famous locals, Matt has also been working on the signage (among other things) at the Kona store. Our Real Shirts from Real Places sign has been a big hit out front, and we’ll definitely be putting one up at the Fremont store in Seattle as well.
Fishing boat t-shirts have been selling like crazy at the Kona store. So, Matt spent some time at Honokohau Harbor today, talking story with the fishermen and signing up a couple more fishing boats: Alibi and Reel Class Sport Fishing. We hear he scored some fresh ono too, lucky bastard.
After all that excitement, Matt headed over to talk with his new buddy Uncle Bo from Kai’Opua. We’re excited to report that we are now an official sponsor of the most prestigious canoe club on the Big Island, Kai’Opua Canoe Club. The Desteenation Kona Store will soon become the new Kai’Opua gear shop, where new members go to get all their canoe club merchandise. So, look for their awesome t-shirts and gear in our stores and online soon.
Local, Hawaiian celebrity, Sam Choy, who also happens to be a family friend, has offered to star in our little commercial. For those of you not familiar with his charisma and celebrity status in the islands, all we can say is ‘This is BIG’.
Sam Choy is a Hawaiian icon and a local treasure, and we’re so grateful for his generosity. We’re also dying to see how this is going to turn out.
Matt’s back in Kona this week, signing up new places, putting some finishing touches on the store and, get this, filming our first commercial. All of our Hawaiian business-owner friends have recommended doing an ad on the local TV station, Big Island TV, and we’re actually filming next week. It’s very touristy, but hey, tourists like cool t-shirts and they need to know where to find the coolest ones in town.
After two and half short months, the doors are open in Kona. Matt worked like a dog to manage the build out, sign up a bunch of new cool places, hire a staff, figure out how to ship inventory from the mainland, etc., etc. You’d think he’d be running around like a maniac, but the island air got him good. He’s converted to island time, and we barely understand him when he calls. Thick pidgin.
Tourists have been walking by for weeks pestering the work crew to let them in. And now, they can finally see what all the fuss is about:
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:
The Destee-Nation Shirt Co. Expedition is on a perpetual road trip seeking vintage t-shirts from locally-owned and operated businesses. With our trusty Nikons in hand, we capture images from these places to accompany the written story that is displayed with all of our t-shirts.
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