Video: @kashakamu
Music: @slappsymphony
Aloha kākou!
We are extremely proud to release our newest collection for you all tomorrow, celebrating 13 incredible years of creating products we are deeply proud of, full of history and reverence for those that came before us as we look forward to what lies ahead. To honor the occasion, we’re throwing a celebration event at the shop, where we’ll be releasing two new designs as an homage to our first release, as well as a bunch of new FITSTRIKES, tees, hoodies, and new Zippo lighters.
Moʻolelo by Ola:
Reflection is important to gauge growth, imperative for self determination, and ultimately shapes a narrative to move forward. A check-and-balance approach—how do we know how far we have come? Where are we going? Who inspires us? Why are we inspired? These questions lead us to the ideas and thoughts we use to explore collections. It is not just merely to create merchandise, but rather to revere our forefathers, share mo‘olelo, and build upon those legacies. In exchange for reverence, we in part build our own legacy on the backs of these ideas. The word “kuakini” translates to “innumerable,” further said of the 40,000 ancestors that come before you. We at FITTED firmly believe in this ideology, that perhaps somewhere in our genealogy were kaulana, or famous story tellers.
In this collection, we are inspired by grand ideas and the long play, so to speak. There are many instances in the past of great accomplishments that bettered the lives of many in the future. In particular, we chose to revere the great Mō‘i Pi’ilani—whose name translates to “Ascent to Heaven”—the 15th King of Maui in the 14th century.
Widely regarded as peaceful for most of his reign, he is famously credited for unifying east Maui with the rest of the districts. However, his most influential contribution has to be the construction of a road which connected all the paths of Maui now under reign. We name this new graphic “Vanguard” as a fitting term for Pi’ilani and his large civil projects to move civilization forward. It is forward-thinking, progress, and unity that aligns us under our reverence banner along with the moʻolelo, which then creates strong intellectual property that belongs to pae‘aina and all the people of these lands. We must protect this HISTORY and share these stories for they were critical in building this place we love—Hawai’i.
Keeping on topic of building FITTEDʻs story we looked back to our very first project with New Era. Many of you may remember the original colorways and the introduction of the Kamehameha logo, along with our use of the original Tools of the Trade pattern, the introduction of H Pride, and all of the colorway theories. So we look back to 2007 and build upon the backs of the team and community, who with continued support allow us to pursue our dreams of sharing more stories.
The Vanguard design introduced above is our first homage back to our original New Era project, yet designed specifically to revere Piʻilani with an aesthetic fitting to his accomplishments. The bold and geometric elements represent Piʻilani’s proud connection to building, construction, and skilled labor, which was reflected in his strong character. The minimalistic qualities help the Vanguard become iconic and timeless, living beyond our years and those after.
The Tools of the Trade pattern which debuted with the original Kamehameha design has been updated as well to coincide with the Vanguard design. This new pattern is aptly named “ʻAokanaka” which translates to “to think or behave reasonably; human enlightenment, civilization; rational.” As the original Tools of the Trade pattern showcased various weapons used in Kamehamehaʻs reign to help conquer and unite the islands as a great warrior, these new tools refer more to the various tools used by all types of highly skilled workers, like koʻi (adze) for shaping canoes, hooks for fishing, or seabirds for voyaging. Every tool is valuable in uniting the community and moving civilization forward.
Along with Vanguard, we are also introducing “Palisade” in that familiar colorway theory of kelly green and orange. At first the name may throw you for a loop, because although we love the area of Palisades in the Manana Ahupuʻaʻa, we did not use this opportunity to place reverence on this area just yet! Palisade literally translates to a fence of pales or stakes pointed at the top and set firmly in the ground in a close row, as for enclosure or defense. This translation refers to our consistency over the past 13 years of serving the community, a metaphorical claim of stakes in the ground placed as a defense of sorts. In this collection, we also introduce the acronym S.H.I.P. (SUPPORTING HAWAIIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY) to further the idea of staking the ground. Drawing a line in the sand, we are saying that our history and ideas are proprietary, and in our own contribution we’re demanding a baseline of quality.
Lastly, we’ll also be revealing our new label system, starting with this collection and moving forward on all future garments. Labels are normally disregarded as the basic location for the brand name and maybe the size, but we wanted to give it a deeper responsibility. The means to perhaps start a conversation, engage thought, and hopefully inspire action. In the top right on the back of the label, we have a quote by King Kamehameha which translates to “Take up my endeavors in its entirety and carry them on without end.” Meaning he wanted us to take everything he was known and revered for, all of his successes and accomplishments, and keep it going. He provided the means for a great future, as long as we kept moving forward. To the left of the quote is an upside-down “1893” to represent a time in our history that we hit a massive roadblock with the overthrow of the Hawaiian government, and the words of King Kamehameha seemed to be lost forever. However, we believe there is still a chance to fulfill the dream he laid out for us. Our mission statement below the year and quote is also a promise that we’ll keep doing our part. We may have lost many things, but one important thing we still have is our Hawaiian intellectual property, which can never be taken away from us. Using S.H.I.P. as the foundation, we feel that as long as we hold onto our intellectual property, embrace it, fight for it, and always hold it to the highest standards, we can proudly move forward and continue King Kamehameha’s quote in a new way.
Sharing of our culture is for everyone to experience but it is the responsibility of the person sharing to have the wit and concern for cultural sensitivity. Reverence and intellectual property control as we stand completing year 13 and moving on to year 14, we proudly say we’re #stillhere #stillserving #aloha #asd #lucky13. MAHALO MAHALO MAHALO!
With our utmost sincerity, we’d like to mention that couldn’t have accomplished 13 years of serving aloha without YOU! So please come join us at the shop tomorrow to help celebrate our anniversary! Along with the new hat designs, we’re also releasing new tee and hoodie designs, over 20 FITSTRIKES, and new Zippos—too much to show and describe so please scroll through the photos below and come to the shop to check them out! We’ll also have plenty of food and drinks on hand for everyone to indulge as we cruise and talk story. We hope to see you all there!
