The inaugural Pacific Fashion Week kicked off Friday with talk story about industry challenges, priorities and culture.
Gravitas Pasifika in partnership with The Foundation of for an Engaged Pacific produced the inaugural two-day event hosted at Kaimana Beach Hotel in Waikīkī from Sept. 18-19.
Makanani Salā, president and CEO of Gravitas Pasifika, told Aloha State Daily that there’s not a professional organization or hui for fashion creatives in Hawaiʻi, so she wanted to create space for creatives to gather and work together.
“They’re so busy trying to make their businesses work, they don’t have the chance to build,” she said, adding that she hopes designers make connections at PFW and look to create solutions to ongoing challenges like high shipping costs and the Islands’ low capacity to manufacture items.
“I think Hawaiʻi has a lot more in common with the Pacific than we do with the Continental U.S.,” Salā said. “Small islands, a lot of native people, limited infrastructure, so when we look to work with other people, it makes sense that we start talking to people that have similar problems as us and have innovative solutions. That happens in the Pacific.”
Zach Pang, CEO of MANAOLA, discussed his challenge of manufacturing goods in the Islands during the Friday morning discussion.
According to Pang, when founder Manaola Yap first visited manufacturers in Hawaiʻi 12 years ago, he had a “very specific inspiration and vision for what he wanted to create” and received “a lot of no's.”
“That was a huge barrier to him being able to express his creativity and move fashion to the place that he wanted to go with his fashion,” Pang explained.
MANAOLA manufactures products in Indonesia and China. Pang said that the company will soon start manufacturing a black label in Hawaiʻi.
Ane Bakutis, one of the founders of Kealopiko, said the brand’s garments are manufactured on Molokai and in California.
Bakutis is a botanist by trade and said that her values in ʻāina meant that she could not create waste with her business. The garments are made with natural fibers and non-toxic dyes and inks.
“Where you put your money is where you put your mana, so when you buy a garment from me, you’re putting your mana into the ethos of Kealopiko,” she said. “(As a designer,) if you are OK with not making as much profit, you can have an impact on your community.”
Fijian designer Samson Lee told ASD he first met Salā at the 2024 Festival of Pacific Arts, or FestPac, for which PWF was built from, according to organizers. On Saturday, PFW features a runway presentation called "Indigenous Life" by Lee, showcasing a new, 60 piece collection of "color and prints," he noted.
As part of the discussion, he shared that all of his garments are manufactured in Fiji. Lee said that he produces small, limited collections, and that sometimes, there’s not enough of certain fabrics operating from an island.
“We’re working with what we have,” he said.
Lee spoke about how designers have to balance their roles as creatives and small business owners. At the end of the day, designers have to think about paying overhead costs and making money, he said. His company comprises five employees.
Creatives also discussed making contemporary art while honoring their kūpuna and traditions.
Rocket Ahuna encouraged artists to steer away from questioning if their art is Hawaiian enough or represents Hawaiʻi well enough and remember that as kanaka, what they create is kanaka art.
“What we create and the stories that we’re creating are our kūpuna’s wildest imaginations,” Ahuna said.
Kini Zamora of Kina Zamora Designs agreed, saying, “As Hawaiian people, we have to make and be innovators and not be scared of creating fun and exciting things.”
Matt Bruening noted that heʻs inspired by his own community and lineage, and that artists shouldn’t feel pressure to be “enough.”
Bakutis said that Kealopiko is based on sharing moʻolelo of their kūpuna, whether through native plants and animals or the stories themselves. The brand recently focused on designing garments around the story of Haʻinakolo.
“It was crazy hard and crazy fun,” she said.
Marques Marzan, a cultural advisor at the Bishop Museum, balanced retaining historical connections through moʻolelo with modern stories from new voices.
“The idea of stories living is something that I try to reinforce in the conversations we have,” he said. “The idea of carrying on and perpetuating and preserving traditional practices is very important. That’s who we are. That’s the history that we come from.”
Marzan adds: “The idea of new stories, new experiences we have today are just as important as the stories of our kūpuna.”
Kaimana Beach Hotel General Manager Haʻaheo Zablan told ASD that supporting creatives and the community is part of its core mission.
“This is my kuleana to be in this space and figuring out ways to help the (hospitality) industry support more of the community we live in. We’re part of the community, every employee, every member, right?” he said, noting that since the property has local ownership, “a lot of the business decisions are based on the community.”
Other partners for PFW include The Gay Agenda Collective and Hawaiʻi Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros contributed to this reporting.
Haley Lehman can be reached at haley@alohastatedaily.com.
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