NOW

Photos Courtesy Encore Bags

Purposely Fashionable

JUICE BOXES ARE PECULIAR. They’re small enough to fit in your palm. And when you finally manage to puncture the thin, plastic straw through the tiny hole, there is barely enough liquid to quench your thirst.

Oh yeah, then they go straight to the local landfill.

Well thanks to three Honolulu sisters, you can at least feel satisfied that those juice boxes, often called juice pouches, have found a second life: Fashion accessories made from, you guessed it, recycled juice pouches. The accessories are called Encore Bags and are manufactured in Manila by a women’s cooper-ative, Kababaihan Iisa Ang Layunin Umunlad Ang Sambayanan Foundation. The money made from the cooperative will be used to educate the women.

“We help the environment by getting the bags out of landfills,” says Cherie Fikani, co-owner of Encore Bags, with her sisters Kelly Boquer-Wintjen and Rica Velasco. “The ecogreen movement is becoming so popular, and being able to tie that into fashion trends makes it an overall, complete package.”

Fikani says there is a local market for Encore Bags, which include lunch pouches, pencil bags, belts, coin purses, large totes and other bright, colorful accessories. Not only are the products environmentally friendly, they’re also versatile and waterproof, ideal for Hawaii consumers, she says. Encore Bags are available at kiosks at Waikele Premium Outlets and Ala Moana Shopping Center. Prices range between $3 and $90.

Fikani and her sisters were born in Manila and raised in Hawaii and Louisiana. They also own Campus Creations, an Aiea-based company that provides uniforms to two dozen local schools.

No word yet about school uniforms made from recycled juice pouches.
-Cathy S. Cruz-George

THERE’S NO MISSED DEADLINE IN TEAM

A national poll of senior executives says meeting deadlines was the No. 1 character-istic for a team player in corporate culture. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Accountemps surveyed 150 executives from the nation’s top 1000 largest companies. The specialized temporary staffing company says companies are looking for that clutch performer. Here are results from this year compared to 1997.

Accountemps offers a few tips for team building:

• Set realistic goals and expectations by establishing roles and responsibilities up front.
• Prioritize projects so you spend the most time on projects that most affect the bottom line.
• Don’t play the blame game. Take one for the team.
• Give credit where credit is due and be generous in praise.
• Minimize office politics with direct communication.

TIME FOR THE OTHER CENSUS

Illustration: Courtesy U.S. Census Bureau

Say you want to open up a camera store in Honolulu. It would benefit you to know how many camera stores already operate in the city. Or how about the ratio of camera stores to general electronic stores? How much did the industry make in sales this past year?

Well, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Census will answer all those questions and more. As long as we fill out the forms, which will be sent to 14,000 businesses in Honolulu this month and approximately 4 million businesses nationwide.

Businesses are required by law to fill out the questionnaire and return it by Feb. 12, 2008. However, it is also in your business’ best interest to fill them out.

Eugene Tian, a researcher at the state’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, says the information is vital for the department’s annual state of Hawaii Data Book and other impact analyses. It is the most detailed economic information collected at a local level; DBEDT does not collect such information.

The census data includes number of establishments and employees, total sales, and total payroll in several industries and geographic areas. The numbers can be used by businesses for status checks and planning purposes. The census folks say a business can estimate market share by dividing total sales for its sector by its own sales.

The results will be published at business.census.gov over a two-year period, beginning in 2009.

Approximately 4 million businesses, including 14,000 in Honolulu, will receive one.

-Jason Ubay

Hawaii Business defines often-spoken words, new and old, to help you make sense of what's being said.

NINJA LOAN : A NINJA loan or mortgage is one given to someone with “No Income, No Job or Assets.” This lending practice has undoubtedly led to the current crisis in the subprime mortgage market. An article by Edward Chancellor in Institutional Investor magazine last February noted that HCL Finance, the self-proclaimed “Home of the ÔNo-Doc’ Loan,” had touted NINJA loans on its Web site. --JASON UBAY Email confusing words to hbeditorial@pacificbasin.net

ROOMS WITHOUT A-CHOO

photo courtesy Marriott Ihilani resort & spa at Ko Olina

This is definitely nothing to sneeze at. In response to increasing guest requests, the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa at Ko Olina in June converted all the rooms on its 17th floor (the hotel’s top floor) into allergy-friendly rooms. “This is a trend that is just starting to grab hold. It is a reaction to a more allergy-sensitive guest,” explains the hotel’s general manager, Steve Glen.

What does allergy-friendly mean, exactly? Working with Pure Solutions NA, the hotel treated each room with a special cleaning application that “bonds on a molecular level,” says Glen. That process helps remove contaminants, kill bacteria and significantly reduce the return of irritants. Pure Solutions also ensures that air conditioners are deep cleaned and sanitized with the company -patented Tea Tree Oil Cartridge.

Another step in certifying the room is using a state-of-the-art air purifier that averages air quality levels four times cleaner than the threshold for asthma patients. The last step is outfitting the room with hypoallergenic pillowcases and mattress covers to eliminate dust and dust-mite allergens. Converting the entire floor cost $45,000.

The hotel is in the process of raising awareness about the rooms, which run $25 more than regular rooms. Glen expects demand to increase over time, as the hotel has a high rate of return guests and many health-conscious visitors from California. In fact, the hotel is now gearing up to convert its 5,530-square-foot ballroom, meeting rooms and its spa to allergy-friendly status.

“We’ll be the first [allergy-friendly spa] in the United States,” Glen says.

He adds that there is a positive, unforeseen byproduct to dust-free rooms: “The housekeepers like it, too.”

-Scott Radway