Aloha kākou!
Historically, our Black Fridays have been much more than just a sale—they’ve been full-scale events and we couldn’t be more proud of that. We love to go big, especially at a time where we can mahalo our customers for all their support throughout the years. This time around is no exception—naturally we had to go big for our first Black Friday as a decade-strong small business.
With the overarching theme of our 10-year evolution being more mature, knowledgable, and showing unwavering dedication to our craft, we approached this year’s Black Friday in a similar fashion. This ultimately resulted in one of our most technically focused collections to date: the Black Friday Ka Pō Nui Hoʻolako Collection.
Ka Pō Nui Hoʻolako translates to “The Great Night That Provides” in Hawaiian, which sets the stage for arguably our biggest event of the year, where we provide our customers with all the great deals and high-caliber products you’ve come to expect from us. We built up the entire Ka Pō Nui Hoʻolako Collection around a clean, streamlined look that focuses primarily on technical manufacturing and premium materials.
KA PŌ NUI HOʻOLAKO NEW ERA SNAPBACKS
For the first part of the collection, we will be releasing five New Era snapbacks, each one crafted from a different premium material and showcasing a different logo on the front. Four of the five are all-black, bringing the focus directly to the type of material used: a perforated leather Aloha, a hexagonal ripstop nylon Kamehameha, a corduroy ʻĀina, and a neoprene Mua. The fifth hat is a Daytripper snapback featuring a black and white aloha print fabric, cut from a large roll so no two are alike. All five snapbacks feature black embroidery on the sides and back, with the Daytripper adding a crest tag near the snap enclosure.
AHU LAʻI WINDBREAKER & PEAK PULLOVER HOODIE (CUT & SEW WITH LAʻI PRINT)
We will also be releasing two new additions to our cut & sew outerwear catalog, bringing back a past silhouette while introducing a completely new one. With our cut & sew items we get to create something from the ground up, and we take enormous care in making sure the product is just right. We made sure we put in countless hours of research and development on both silhouettes, perfecting the fit and materials to our custom specifications. Every part was visualized down to the last detail, resulting in two of the most technical outerwear pieces we’ve ever created.
The Ahu Laʻi Windbreaker is a silhouette we created a year ago for our Waiʻaleʻale collection, designed to solve the same problems that our ancestors did when they created the original ahu laʻi, a ti leaf cape handcrafted to protect them from the elements. We took that concept and applied it to our specific environment here in Hawaiʻi, using the modern materials and technologies that we have at our disposal. It includes all the great features we introduced last year, like the lightweight ripstop nylon shell, back ventilation flap, adjustable drawcords at the waist and hood, and waterproof reverse zippers on the full body, lower pockets, and upper left front stash pocket. We’ve also made a few slight improvements over last year’s design, adding a drawstring to the wrists for greater adjustability and adding mesh ventilation on the sides from the underarms down. The 10 year patch is seen on the lower left front pocket, along with our new branding on the front chest, lower back and upper back. The print on the upper half of the windbreaker is our new Laʻi (ti leaf) pattern, an abstract representation of ti leaves as an homage to the real ahu laʻi worn by ancient Hawaiians. Laʻi was also used traditionally to wrap hoʻokupu (gifts or offerings) that was provided to Lono for the Makahiki season, which relates back to the central theme of Ka Pō Nui Hoʻolako (The Great Night That Provides).
Our new Peak Pullover Hoodie is a brand new silhouette, created to fill the void of everyday outerwear here in Hawaiʻi, where it can rain one minute and be sunny the next. We researched various types of fabric before we landed on the perfect one—a high quality dry-fit fabric that specializes in moisture management, moving perspiration away from the body and through the fabric where it can evaporate quickly. This allows the wearer to feel cooler and more comfortable in various environments. The Peak also features raglan sleeves and a contoured bottom hem for a better fit at the shoulders and waist, respectively, and also includes tailored cuffs for a very snug fit that helps prevent the usual stretching and warping that occurs with normal hoodies. Other details include a drawstring hood, double-sided front pocket, 10 year patch on the front, ASD trilock tag on the right side, and probably the most notable detail being the large niho (triangle) on the back, which is a signature addition in most of our cut & sew products. The back features a woven X logo printed above latitude/longitude coordinates, which point to a geographic area known as Kou in ancient Hawaiʻi, one of the original names for the city of Honolulu. It was named Kou because it had a thriving grove of kou trees running through it.
FITTED FOR SCOTT HAWAII KOLOHE CORRECTOR SLIPPER
As one of the highlights of the Ka Pō Nui Hoʻolako Collection, we teamed up with good folks at Scott Hawaii to create a new premium slipper, built off the classic rubber slipper from our childhood but ushered into the 21st century with updated materials and Scott’s 80+ years of footwear experience. Aptly named the “Kolohe Corrector,” this slipper serves multiple purposes in addition to normal usage on one’s feet. It can also be used to kill pesky insects, add aerodynamics to your barefoot race against your friend, or like the name suggests…yeah, we’ll leave it at that. It features a natural rubber non-slip gum outsole with a Rubalon insole and arch support for a comfortable ride. The rubber strap contains two anchors on each side for a more secure hold on your feet. It also features our new Laʻi print on the top, a black and white striped midsole with a pop of yellow on the arch support, and a rubber FITTED patch on the heel.
KA PŌ NUI HOʻOLAKO TEES
We are also releasing two tees and a long sleeve tee to commemorate the Black Friday event, with all three featuring black on black print. The WTCF 2 Tee features our new logotype across the front, while the Laʻi Crest tee features a large crest on the front filled with the Laʻi pattern. The long sleeve tee showcases the new logotype on the front with our brand’s mantra, years of business, and latitude/longitude coordinates—pointing to the area that was known as Kou, one of the original names for Honolulu. All three tees feature a Laʻi filled crown on the upper back.
Along with all the featured releases above, we also have our traditional blow-out sale happening with $5 tees, $10 hats, and 50% off our Ala Kaʻi Boardshort. We’re not done either. If you spend $200 or more, you’ll receive a free Umi A Ola Trilock Pillow with your purchase. And as always, we’ll have great food and entertainment for you to indulge in while waiting in line. Like we said earlier, we love to do it big!
