How Fashion Happens in Hawaii
PHOTOS BY MARK ABEIT When people think about the fashion business, they tend to focus on the designer’s creative ideas and the finished products they buy. The beginning and the end. But it takes a great deal of work…
All Stories
Building Bridges to China
Chinese companies and individuals are investing tens of billions of dollars in America. Here’s how Hawaii businesses and nonprofits are creating relationships with their Chinese counterparts and working to get a share of those investments, with varying degrees of success.…
Aquaculture Ahi: The Holy Grail of Fish Farming
Ahi, also known as yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna, have suffered from overfishing and are becoming harder and harder to catch in the wild. That’s why farm-raised ahi are so coveted, but the prize has proved elusive. Others are trying…
Ask the Expert: Motivating Salespeople to Sell More
Question: I have six salespeople: four veterans and two who are quite new. While they are all selling, I know they could be selling more, and I’m amazed that the new ones are outselling the experienced ones. Any suggestions? Answer:…
Winning Play
Football season is prime time for sports bars' bottom line Baseball may be “America’s pastime,” and basketball and soccer reign as the most popular sports globally, but for sports bar owners in Hawaii there is no dispute: Football reigns supreme. “Football is crucial for us,” says Mike…
Tiny Cameras
Maurice Kondo has been collecting things since he grew up on the Hamakua Coast. “My elementary school teacher would tell me, ‘Small things entertain small minds,’ ” jokes Kondo, a principal at INK Architects, whose office at Dole Cannery is a menagerie of treasures,…
From Around the World, At a Fair Price
Nandini Bhattacharjee is not your typical retailer. Her Kailua shop, Nomads Hawaii, abbreviated as Nohi, is based on her personal philosophy and approach to life. “I would not have done this if it did not allow me a way to help people,” Bhattacharjee says. “At…
Students and Lovers of the Ocean, Rejoice
Around 4 most mornings, I wake up and switch on my laptop. The first site I click is PacIOOS.org, an interactive and informative website that gives me all the real-time information I need to decide which surfboard to take to the beach that morning or whether I should stay in…
Local Tech Firm Goes Global
For those who believe Hawaii’s economic future lies with innovative technology and global thinking, DataHouse can be a poster child. The Honolulu-based company, with offices in Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco, this year signed a contract to design and…
Tugboat Captain
Name: Ben Isabel Job: Tugboat captain for Young Brothers, the main shipper of cargo around the Hawaiian Islands. Experience: Started with YB in 1994. START: Isabel served as an E-5 second-class boatswain mate in the U.S. Navy. But, to work for Young Brothers,…
Hawaii Leads Nation in Steel-Framed Homes
More than 70 percent of new-home construction in Hawaii uses cold-steel frame studs in place of traditional wooden two-by-fours. “No other state comes even close,” says Tim Waite of the Hawaii Steel Alliance. “Second place goes to Australia.” On the mainland, steel framing is frequently found in multifamily…
Luxury Double-Penthouse
When one penthouse isn’t enough, why not combine two? That’s what’s happened at One Ala Moana, the luxury tower being built above Nordstrom at Ala Moana Center, where a pair of condos recently fetched a combined price of $17 million, according to developer B.J. Kobayashi. One Ala Moana is…