The first printed HiLife shirt was our original logo we still use today. The logo was crude and unrefined, inspired from our bonsai tree ad campaign in Heavywater magazine. Calvin Maeda (a longtime friend and ex co-worker from Local Motion days) suggested the design should be the brand’s logo. It made total sense, so I decided to run with it. The t-shirt was printed in April of 2007 at a printshop in Kalihi called D3 Screenprinting. Darren (who owns and operates the shop) was a friend I met when I was designing for Local Motion’s “Hawaiian Style” brand in the 90’s. Darren printed three dozen tees and gifted it to me to start my new company. Another friend from college, Tyson who has a banner making/decal company called “Sticker Pimps” made some mini cell phone decals which became the hangtags added to the shirt. There are a lot of people along the way that unselfishly donated their time, skills and professional advise to help me launch the brand and I am forever grateful to have met people like this throughout my journey. The t-shirt reached the shelves at the new Butigroove store at Piikoi and Kona street a week later.
