Releasing exclusively in-store and online this Black Friday, November 24.
The Kona Street store will open at 12am on Friday, while the online store will open at 10am on Friday.
NOTE: FITTED + Sig Zane Aloha Shirts are releasing in-store only.
Please see flyers for full schedule
FITTED + SIG ZANE DESIGNS + SIG ON SMITH : KUKAEUNAHIO
Time, past, present, and future lead to an appropriate appetite for much desire. "Once upon a time" opens a door in my belly as if I'm stumbling to the refrigerator at 2am, anticipating a bowl of savory luau stew after a long night out. Reminiscing through books of storied times is the type of love language that piques and motivates us. While we are indeed blessed to be born and raised in an environment, rich with detailed dilemmas and triumphs, the moment when we can connect the physical space with that of time past, is a genuine spark.
During this season, we chose to explore a moʻolelo in our backyard. Actually, it happened in all directions figuratively. Referencing Ka Nupepa Kuokoa on July 22, 1865, a story was shared about an interaction between Kapoi, an owl, and the King of that time, Kakuhihewa. There lived a man named Kapoi at Kahehuna in Honolulu, who went one day to Kewalo to get some thatching for his house. While on this journey, he finds a set of owl eggs; super hungry, he takes them home to roast. As he prepares to burn the eggs, an owl appears on his fence, demanding him to return the eggs. At first, he refused to return the eggs because he was hungry. After a few back-and-forths, his conscience gets the best of him, and he eventually returns the eggs to the owl. Feeling the wrong in his actions, the owl tells Kapoi to build a heiau.
News spread to Kakuhihewa, the king living at the time in Waikiki; he had a kapu that whoever among his people should erect a heiau before the King had his temple, should pay the penalty of death. Kapoi was seized and led to the heiau of Kupalaha at Waikiki.
That same day, the owl that had told Kapoi to erect a temple, gathered all the owls from Lanai, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii to one place at Kalapueo. All those from the Koolau districts were assembled at Kanoniakapueo, and those from Kauai and Niihau at Pueohulunui, near Moanalua.
It was decided by the King that Kapoi should be put to death on the day of Kane. When that day came, at daybreak, the owls left their places of rendezvous and covered the whole sky over Honolulu. As the King's servants seized Kapoi to put him to death, the owls flew at them, pecking them with their beaks and scratching them with their claws. At last, the owls conquered, and Kapoi was released; the king acknowledging that his Akua was powerful. Since then, the Hawaiian people have recognized the owl as Akua.
A generation of innovative kanaka adopted the printing technology of the 1800ʻs, and built a platform to collect and distribute oli, mele, and moolelo. The wide distribution format of the printing press allowed for our ancestral text to thrive. We are mere students of this library of knowledge, passed on to us through historical nupepa articles. We push forward to add our humble marks in time through visual interpretation and allow moolelo to breathe once again.
Two sons of the soil, Ola from Fitted Hawaii and Kuhao from Sig Zane Designs collected cues from “Kukaeunahiokapueo” that inspired new IP for this project. Building upon the decades of experience in the industry we feel itʻs important to exercise the execution of perspectives that are born and raised of this aina.
Along with the Sig Zane collaboration, we’re releasing sixteen new everyday staple hats, covering an assortment of colors, materials, and New Era silhouettes. Each hat features clean white embroidery on the front, left side, and back, and also showcases one of three colorful side patches. All Black Friday hats will be 20% off on Black Friday only, and will go back to full price starting Saturday.