Photo: @thejaycid
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: Chris Fujimori
AKA: Fuj, @cfujifilms, FYF
Title/Position: Lifestyle Photographer
Favorite place in Hawaii? Everywhere. There’s no place like home.
One thing you can't live without? My camera.
What are you doing when you aren't working? Traveling, watching movies, drinking.
Favorite FITTED hat? Anything Kamehameha.
What inspires you? Anything and everything.
KAPĀLAMA KAMEHAMEHA SNAPBACK
By Chris Fujimori
If you’ve ever met me, you’d never guess that I went to Kamehameha Schools. No one would’ve guessed that I spent 13 years of my life up on The Hill. I guess I don’t really look the part of a Kamehameha Schools graduate, but that’s why I embrace it so much. It creates a sort of camaraderie with anyone else who graduates from there, like we’re part of an exclusive club and can relate to each other like few others can. It’s part of this culture that first drew me to the brand FITTED in the first place. Jared (or @jjparkz as you all know him) had reached out to me and told me to check out this new shop he worked at, that sold only hats. Because he was a good friend and fellow graduate of KS, I told him I’d stop by. I was skeptical at first (as I’m sure we all were). “What kind of store sells only hats?!” was all I could think while trying to find the place. I went with my buddy Pono, and when we got there we thought the place was pretty cool, a small shop selling a bunch of New Era MLB custom hats that were just starting to gain popularity. We thought they were pretty cool so we each grabbed one. I copped a few every now and then, grabbing the sick colorways and the dope UH customs. Then in 2006, I saw that they started to release their own designs on hats, some with the Kamehameha silhouette on them. It was at this time that I fell in love with the brand. My connection with Kamehameha made it easily my favorite design. Ever since then, I have been steadily collecting FITTED products, the Kamehameha design remaining my favorite to this day.
For those who may not know, photography has been a big passion of mine for many years. I got into it just capturing pictures whenever I took a trip somewhere, and it only grew from there. It was reinvigorated when I started getting into shoe photography, meeting many new people along the way (s/o Sniper Six, ISX, HSH, and SGHI), and it eventually led me into landscape and lifestyle photography. As my passion for photography developed, Jared approached me to become one of the lifestyle photographers for FITTED. What could I say? It was a dream come true, and this hat is a tribute to that. My past has helped shape me into who I am today, which I think many of you can relate to. I’ve dubbed this hat the Kapālama Kamehameha because of the 13 years I spent up on that hill. The Kamehameha silhouette was chosen for obvious reasons, and the infamous Bred colorway comes from my love for sneakers and fashion. I started with black pebbled leather as the base and added tonal embroidery all around. Bold hits of red are used on the undervisor and snap enclosure. My good friend @thejaycid shot the lifestyle you see here, capturing two things I can’t live without: my camera and FITTED. Enjoy.
Our new The Flock tee will also be releasing alongside the Kapālama Kamehameha snapback this Saturday. It features the name Fitted across the chest, made up of yellow hulu (feathers) to represent the hulu used for ʻahu ʻula (feather capes) and mahiʻole (feather helmets) adorned by aliʻi. The backside of this red tee features our crown printed in white.
