Aloha kākou!
For our Spring 2016 collection, rather than look elsewhere for inspiration, we chose to turn our attention to those closest to us—our FITTED ‘ohana. This season, we’re getting up close and personal with our “hui” (Hawaiian for club or company), as we allowed each of our team members to dream up two hats, each utilizing their choice of silhouette (59FIFTY fitted or 9FIFTY snapback), front logo, color-blocking, and materials—resulting in unique pieces that hold special value to the team members that created them. A few of our stockists on the Mainland will release their own store exclusives in the near future as well. Please note that all hats in this collection were produced in limited quantities.
Each piece has a special story behind it, and what better way to hear those stories than from the creators themselves? Every release will be authored by the team member responsible for that design, for an even more personal touch. This Spring season, we hope to share a little more about our hui with you.
Name: Sebastian J. Valdes
AKA: Bobby Filipino
Title/Position: Wholesale Manager
Favorite place in Hawaii? Wherever the BBQ and FITTED EZ ups are
One thing you can't live without? My family
What are you doing when you aren't working? Playing with my son
Favorite FITTED hat? Pantanama Snapback and Kala Set
What inspires you? My son, my family, my team
ISAIAH KEIKI KAMEHAMEHA SNAPBACK
By Sebastian Valdes
My 2nd for this collection is a keiki snapback, and I can’t take any of the credit because this design simply isn’t mine. It belongs to our young homie, Isaiah, and he actually designed it back in September 2012. This story is about how he made an everlasting impression in my life the day we first met.
Isaiah was a patient at Kapiolani Women & Children’s Hospital. We had the opportunity to go to the hospital one night and speak to some of the kids about what it is that we did at FITTED. We handed out some blank hat templates for the kids to color and we pretty much just talked the whole time, getting to know each other and answered any questions they had. And there was Isaiah, 9 years old, rubbing his chin in contemplation over what color crayon he should use for his design. I asked him, “What’s your favorite color?” And without hesitation, he replies, “Hot pink!” All of us at the table were surprised at how quick he answered and that hot pink was his favorite color. We all laughed and he was like, “Really, it is!” I tried talking him into splitting credit with me if we ever made the hat he designed, 80-20 was the offer, me taking 80 and him 20 naturally, and he basically looked at me and the rest of the team like, “This guy must be crazy!” Haha. I’m telling you, this kid so was full of life, you could have never guessed that he was sick.
Fast forward a week or two later to his 10th birthday. I didn’t get the chance to visit him, but I did get the chance to FaceTime with him because Kaiser and Tiffany went to visit him and dropped off his birthday present—a hot pink sketch pad, so he could design more hats for us. I asked him if he was sure he didn’t want to take me up on my 80-20 offer and of course, he laughed at me and politely declined.
This was the last time I spoke to him, because shortly after his birthday he passed away. Now, I may not have known him a long time but in the short time that I did know him and talk to him, he’s made such an impression that even to this day I think about him. I even have his drawing of the hat he colored.
This keiki Kamehameha snapback is full of bright, bold colors, just like Isaiah’s life. He designed the crown to be lime green with purple contrast stitching and red logos all around. It features a white snap enclosure, black visor with lime green contrast stitching, and purple eyelets and undervisor.
The hat is respectively named Isaiah, in honor of him and his life. We’ll always remember his smile, because his eyes would disappear when he did; his humor, because he had us cracking up that first day we met him; and his mind, because he wanted to design things truly, and now he has.
No 80-20 credit split on this one, kid. It’s all you…100%.
We’ll be releasing three new keiki tees on Tuesday as well. All three feature our Aloha logo on the front and our crown on the upper back, in lime green on black, white on heather grey, and black on red. They all come in three sizes: Youth Extra-Small, Youth Small, and Youth Medium.
