Wow, have we ever had a record week! The New York Times Magazine column about Destee-Nation has sent countless new customers our way, resulted in lots more press and inspired a whole helluva a lot of you to fill out our new Suggest a T-Shirt Form. We’re absolutely thrilled and hard at work printing and shipping and responding to all of you.
Here are a few of our favorite magazines, newspapers and blogs that have mentioned us this week:
Time flies. It’s already been over a month since our scouts were on Oahu looking for the top landmark establishments on the island. Until recently, our Hawaiian t-shirt collection has been predominantly from Kona on the Big Island. But our scouts finally had time to do a little island hopping, and we’re slowly rolling out the new designs.
Our latest additions include: Honolulu Scuba Co., Matsumoto Shave Ice, Like Like Drive Inn.
And coming soon to a t-shirt near you:
After years of faithful service, our Outfitter Dept. has reluctantly listed Expedition Vehicle No. 1 on ebay. It’s usefulness has expired as gas prices have leveled off at 
unobtainium, and guilt over greenhouse gas emissions has rendered our scouts incapable of driving the old tank. Ah well, we’ll miss you “Sandcruiser”. We wish you the best in your new life (hopefully, in some collector’s barn). Win this patina-red 1986 Landcruiser FJ60 on ebay and guess what? We’ll send you (5) t-shirts of your choice as part of the deal!
As our t-shirt scouts head into some new terriotory in the coming weeks and months, Arizona and Kauai in the current and near term, I’ve been on the lookout for resources to help plan their missions. Finding places that locals love and patronize can sometimes be a challenge, particularly if they’re off the beaten path, but not anymore…
Tripadvisor has frequently been a top source of research for us, but now that we’ve ventured into their forums there’s no turning back. I posted a request for suggestions before we head over to Kauai in a couple weeks, and the response has been phenomenal. Check out all of the cool t-shirt ideas these knowlegeable locals threw out there for us.
We’re sending out the t-shirt scouts again, and this time they’re off to Arizona. Matt and Co. are currently en route to Flagstaff, and I’ve been compiling a list of cool places for them to visit. Naturally, we always welcome suggestions. So, if you know of any cool locally-owned places in Flagstaff, or anywhere in The Grand Canyon State for that matter, please leave us a comment and fill us in…
The guys will be checking out out this handful of locally-loved establishments in the next day or two:
Let us know if there are other spots we need to check out!
Chris is on a new member roll in Seattle lately! Last week, he met with the folks at Free Range Cycle, a very cool bike shop in Fremont with an even cooler t-shirt, and then he zipped over and signed up Blue Moon Burgers, a sweet little burger joint with happening spots in both Fremont and South Lake Union.
Then, after already visiting the brewery a few weeks ago (during which he sampled some of their award-winning brew—is there a theme developing with Chris?) and meeting up at Hop Scotch, Shawn and Alicia of Lazy Boy Brewing fame stopped by our headquarters, toured our warehouse and even visited the Fremont store. No word as to whether there was any beer consumed.
We’ll be busy getting all of these new Seattle and Hawaiian t-shirts up on the website in the coming weeks.
Our Seattle Scout, Chris, just signed Bop Street Records, another cool, independent record store specializing in a huge selection of vinyl. Dave, the long-time owner, originally opened his doors in the Greenwood neighborhood back in 1979, and the shop is now right in the thick of it on the historic Ballard Avenue. Look for their cool, vintage t-shirt on our site in the coming weeks!
We’re piling up quite a collection of independent record store t-shirts. Check it out—we’ve got:
So while they were chatting, Dave at Bop Street introduced Chris to his buddy and customer, Tim Hayes, who it turns out is THE Tim Hayes—one-time owner of Capitol Hill’s legendary Fallout Records. They chatted about what we do here with local businesses and t-shirts, and Tim filled Chris in on his waning efforts to sell Fallout t-shirts.
Desteenation has been working on a new t-shirt line that we like to call Vanishing Desteenations—it’s our effort to keep some of our beloved local places alive even after they shut their doors. Fallout Records would be a perfect addition, and you can read why we think so in this article about their sad farewell from The Stranger. We’ll keep you posted.
Back in December while on a scouting mission with his family in tow, Matt stopped in at Tex Drive-In for a bite and ended up having an impromptu meeting with the owner. He was totally into our concept but just needed to go over it with his mother and get back to us. Meanwhile, Matt’s daughter was enthralled throughout their entire meeting, standing on a chair by the kitchen window watching the baker make their famous malasadas.
Malasada (n) : a puffy donut without a hole that is deep-fried, rolled in sugar and best eaten while hot. Malasadas are a Portuguese snack introduced by workers imported for cane and pineapple production.
Tex’s was founded by the Texieria’s, a portugese family who opened up shop in the late 60s. It’s been a favorite local haunt ever since, and they make what are arguably the best malasadas on the island as well as some great burgers and true ‘ono grinds’.
Sarah, the owner of Phinney Ridge’s newest (and possibly swankiest) bar and lounge, browsed around our Fremont store last weekend and ended up asking how Oliver’s Twist could become a Desteenation member. We love it when business owners see what we do, understand how they could benefit and ask us if they can sign up–the concept speaks for itself!
Chris, our guy on the Seattle scene, went over to Oliver’s today, met with Sarah and her partner Daniel and made it official. Welcome Oliver’s Twist! These t-shirts will likely be orange and very stylin’.
With a couple hours to kill before hopping on his plane bound for the mainland, Matt stopped in to check out the Hawaiian Lifeguard Surf Instructors head quarters. He was fortunate to meet much of the family behind the operation, and Rick, the owner, pulled in just in time to seal the deal.
What better way to learn to surf than from this group of super-cool, laid-back lifeguards…
These lifeguard t-shirts are going to look great up on the wall in the Kona Store.
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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