Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ultimate Kauai Souvenir: The Red Dirt Shirt
If you are looking for an inexpensive, easy-to-pack souvenir or gift, check
out the red dirt shirt. The shirts were born out of turning a bad situation
into a positive one. The “legend” is that
Paradise Sportswear
in
Hanapepe (
&
808/335-5670;
www.dirtshirt.com) lost the roof of their
warehouse during Hurricane Iniki in 1992. After the storm passed,
employees returned to the building to find all their T-shirts covered with
Kauai's red soil. Before throwing out their entire inventory as “too soiled
to sell,” someone had an idea: sell the shirts as a Kauai “red dirt shirt.”
Fast forward a dozen years and the shirts have numerous outlets on Kauai.
The best prices on the red dirt shirts can be found at the factory by the
Port Allen Small Boat Harbor, open daily from 9am to noon and 1 to 4pm.
You can watch the silk screening process or purchase a few shirts from the
retail shop, which has T-shirts for infants to XXXXL. The deals are on the
factory seconds and discontinued designs.
and studio glass pieces. Then stroll along this strip of storefronts to
Kebanu
Gallery
(
&
808/823-6820
),
Hula Girl
(
&
808/822-1950
), and
South China
Sea Trading Company
(
&
808/823-8655
), and see if you can resist their wares.
NORTH SHORE
Hanalei, touristy as it is, is still a shopping destination. Anticipate a handful of
great shops, a few art galleries and boutiques, and several minimalls—not much
to distract you from an afternoon of hiking or snorkeling.
Save your time, energy and, most of all, discretionary funds, for this end of
the island. Starting in Kailua, don't miss
Kong Lung,
in a 1942 Kilauea stone
building (the last to be built on the Kilauea Plantation) off Highway 56 on
Kilauea Road (
&
808/828-1822
). Kong Lung is a showcase of design, style, and
quality, from top-of-the-line dinnerware and bath products to aloha shirts, jew-
elry, ceramics, women's wear, stationery, and personal and home accessories. The
book selection is fabulous. It's expensive, but browsing here is a joy. Directly
behind Kong Lung is newcomer
Lotus Gallery
(
&
808/828-9898
), a show-
stopper for lovers of antiques and designer jewelry.
In Hanalei, at
Ola's,
by the Hanalei River on the Kuhio Highway (Hwy. 560),
after the bridge and before the main part of Hanalei town (
&
808/826-6937
),
Sharon and Doug Britt, an award-winning artist, have amassed a head-turning
assortment of American and island crafts, including Doug's paintings and the one-
of-a-kind furniture that he makes out of found objects, driftwood, and used mate-
rials. From health foods to groceries to Bakelite jewelry, the
Ching Young Village
Shopping Center,
in the heart of Hanalei, covers a lot of bases. It's more funky
than fashionable, but Hanalei, until recently, has never been about fashion. Next
door to Ching Young Village is
On The Road to Hanalei
(
&
808/
826-7360
), worth your time to wander around and check out the unusual
T-shirts (great gifts to take home because they don't take up much suitcase space),
scarves, pareus, jewelry, and other unique gifts. Across the street in the
Hanalei
Center,
the standout boutique is the
Yellowfish Trading Company
(
&
808/
826-1227
), where owner Gritt Benton's impeccable eye and zeal for collecting are
reflected in the 1920s to 1940s collectibles: menus, hula-girl nodders, hula lamps,
rattan and koa furniture, vases, bark-cloth fabric, retro pottery and lamp bases,
must-have vintage textiles, and wonderful finds in books and aloha shirts.
