Jams World Features Colorful Textiles Turned into Unique Clothing

2025 SmallBiz Editor’s Choice Award Hall of Fame: Pua and Heather Rochlen run the family business started in 1964, with six stores across three islands.

Heather Rochlen, the self-described “Housewife of Jams,” says Jams World clothing “starts and ends with art.”

“It’s resort, it’s fun, it’s colorful,” Rochlen says. “There’s a certain extra intelligence and intensity of color and brush-strokes that we screen print onto our fabric, which makes a Jams print so recognizable. … The way we lay out the art is very intentional, so that it looks the best.”

Jams World is a family-run clothing brand; it opened its first store in the Islands – Surfline Hawai‘i – in 1964. Founder Dave Rochlen, Heather’s father-in-law, began his line of surf-friendly clothing by asking his wife, Keanuenue Ka‘eo, to cut a pair of pajama pants into shorts.

“And so we came up with the word ‘jams,’ short for pajamas,” Heather Rochlen says. “And that’s our trademark.”

Jams World is run today by Dave’s son and Heather’s husband, Pua Rochlen, who continues his father’s love for curating textiles from around the world and transforming them into clothing for any occasion: from kimono robes to blazers to original Jams shorts.

“There’s something for everybody in the collection,” says Heather Rochlen. “[We] keep the silhouettes super simple but flattering.”

Six Jams World stores are spread across the state, with three on Hawai‘i Island, one on Kaua‘i and two on O‘ahu, including the factory store in Kalihi, where customers can look through a window into the factory while shopping.

“People love that you can see some of our artwork and collections from over the years,” Heather Rochlen says.

Retail sales account for about 50% of transactions, online about 35% and wholesale 15%. Jams World has 44 employees and, according to Heather Rochlen, a very low staff turnover rate.

Jams World supports local causes including Make-A-Wish Hawaii, the Hawai‘i Foodbank, the Hawaiian Humane Society, the Legacy Reef Foundation and the American Red Cross. In each collection, a piece is dedicated to a foundation, and a portion of proceeds goes straight to them, Heather Rochlen says.