Fitted Hawaii has a story to tell with their latest New Era collaboration. I’m always into the meaning behind design work, and Fitted might just have given me even more than I bargained for with the Makini fitted set to release tomorrow June 11th. Chock full of details, this is sure to please islanders and mainlanders alike.

I normally loathe when a blog just lifts the copy from another site or press release, but there’s a lot going on here and I don’t want to miss anything. So without further ado, here is the story behind this cap straight from the Hawaiian’s mouth.

“Makini” in Hawaiian means a group of spears tied together, used as a battering ram in war. It also has a meaning of many deaths; death dealing. There are 2 different stories of what these gourd masks were actually used for. One popular belief was that the helmets were worn by a secret warrior society entrusted with the protection of the highest ali’i (chiefs) of ancient Hawaii. With this theory, it is said that the crest was made out of ‘uki (or a tough sedge). The term “ikaika” (which translates to ‘strong’) became popular in the early-mid 80’s when A brand called Master Graphics and another brand called Hawaiian Strength ran t-shirt’s with the word Ikaika Warrior and a muscular figure wearing a gourd mask.

To start off, the overall look of the hat is tough. The front embroidery is where the gourd would have been cut out for the eyes. Around the base of the whole hat is a water based tattoo print to signify strength. The bill has embroidery of strings that would have been the place for the kapa. On the crown of the hat is intricate feather embroidery that has taken the place of the ‘uki grass. With the old tradition we added some modern elements like the triangle satin lining and on the under bill we have built upon the dual theories with this olelo No’eau. ” Pupukahi i holomua” which translates to: “UNITE TO MOVE FORWARD” and to break it down: “BY WORKING TOGETHER WE MAKE PROGRESS”.

Whew. So there you have it. These hats release tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11 and are bundled with both shirts pictured at the beginning of the article. If you’re elsewhere in the world, phone orders will be accepted after 1 PM Hawaii time. You’ll probably want to check your time zone to figure out what time that is for you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 1:09 am and is filed under Hats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.