Releasing in-store on Black Friday, November 29, 2013. We will open at midnight and we will close when everything is sold.
Black Friday has always been an important day for us. We strive to create an event that you—our ‘ohana—will enjoy coming to and leaving from. For us itʻs not just a sale, but a great experience.
Last year we embraced the dark with our ‘Ele‘ele Ambush in the Night collection. This year we wanted to explore the dark a little deeper, through the teachings of our Hawaiian ancestors. While cultures around the world have their own beliefs on the creation of life, ancient Hawaiians used the Kumulipo (creation) chant to tell their story. They believed that the creation of life happened in 16 wā, or eras—the first 8 wā in darkness, and the second 8 wā in light.
The belief that essence preceded existence is the basis of our Black Friday collection, aptly titled “Pō Pau‘ole,” which roughly translates to “never-ending darkness.” It is our respectful nod to the Kumulipo chant and our way of sharing the story of creation with you.
Using five snapbacks as our canvas, we’ve commissioned our good friend Shawn Kaho‘olemanaʻs incredible natural photos to help paint the picture of Pō Pauʻole and creation in an amazing visual narrative.
Shawn is one of our oldest friends here at FITTED. We really respect and love what he is doing now, and to be able to work with him and showcase his amazing work is truly an honor.
We asked him to tell us a little more about himself, and here are his words:
“O aloha mai kakou. O Shawn Kahoʻolemana Naone koʻu inoa a he Hawaiʻi. Noho au i Palehua aka no Aliapaʻakai mai au. My name is Shawn Kahoʻolemana Naone and I am Hawaiian. I live in Makakilo but was raised in Salt Lake. I am a student with two concurrent majors, one in Native Hawaiian Studies and one in Social Work. I went through many years of life with minimal curiosity on what it meant to be kanaka ʻoiwi (Native Hawaiian), in fact I never realized that I had a kuleana (responsibility) to learn and share what my kupuna had practiced and lived so many hundreds of years ago. I lived with this huikau (confusion) for many years until I discovered the value of my culture, the Hawaiian culture. This huikau I feel is one of the main reasons Native Hawaiians are the leaders in the demographic of the incarcerated, the homeless, the substance abusers, and the diasporic.
“I started to document my journey of what I learned in and out of the classroom, and at the same time I got to share my culture to those who were in the same boat as I. My philosophy on photography is a complex one but then again, aren’t all Hawaiians living in this ever changing modern day and age. The word for picture is kiʻi, but it also means image, picture, statue, tiki, likeness (as in art imitating life or more importantly vice versa), and also it means to fetch, to acquire, and obtain. So it is my paradox as well my opportunity to be pono in my art by taking a picture without actually talking but observing and giving a response to what I see. I try to makawalu others by showing the multiple angles of a certain object, and how it’s juxtaposition affects everything around it and that we are all connected. There are many ways of seeing one thing.”
Below are the five pieces of the Pōpauʻole narrative, using descriptions based on Shawnʻs own writings. Each hat will be on sale for $39.99.
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