Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Unprepossessing Shirts

While some people may say that ugly Hawaiian shirts are not particularly attractive or appealing to the eye, it doesn't necessarily mean the person wearing it isn’t attractive on the inside. Actual customer pictures sent to Wave Shoppe Hawaiian shirts suggest that despite their unprepossessing appearances, the customers could still be suave and possibly even a little animal magnetism going on. 

For those that are unfamiliar with this recent fashion trend, you need to know that it didn’t originate in Hawaii, they originated on the mainland, in a very messy textile cutting room.

These ugly Hawaiian shirts are the byproduct of years of shirt manufacturing, as well as making good on a few snide comments pertaining to what we were going to do with our remnant fabrics. Our response was usually that we were going to cut all of it up and make it into Hawaiian shirts and actually sell them.

People said we were crazy, nothing would match and that they would be hideous looking, we said exactly. Its not the first time people have questioned Charles rational.

Let it be told that in this type of manufacturing / business model that there really isn’t such a thing as scrap fabric, we use almost everything and only when the pieces become trace fragments of cloth, do we ever toss any of it. 

So 5 or 6 years later we were brainstorming on new products that could be brought to market. Even micro clothing labels such as Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts need to be mindful of breaking into new retail vertical spaces.
 
Thus the cutting shop was eventually given the directive to start blindly cutting up reserve fabrics (that were not being utilized for the current line). While we initially produced just a few shirts in our more popular sizes, they sold out within a few weeks. A more expansive production of ugly Hawaiian shirts that followed did the same.  

Realizing we may have hit on something, we made the decision to jump in with both feet and run off large amounts of ugly shirts in all of the sizes (Small through 5X). The problem we faced now is that we wiped out much of our excess fabric during the first two productions.
 
Obviously we had to have the shirts, so we went out and purchased a few thousand yards of fabrics from some of our suppliers. Mind you none of which will be used in our traditional shirt line.
 
Currently our inventory of these garish shirts is 50% over normal inventory levels, but we anticipate that demand for these shirts will soon outpace supply. If you’re looking to win a ugly Hawaiian shirt contest at the office or a luau, these are the ugly Hawaiian shirts to have.
 
These are not necessarily gag gifts either. Of the few hundred or so ugly shirts we have sold so far, its our estimate that over 80 % of the recipients are actually wearing them or have worn them at least once!
 
I will admit that as I see more and more of the ugly shirts released from sewing, that they are growing on me. Let it be known that I don't have one for myself yet, I guess I am a bit of a wimp or possibly have a weak Aloha spirit. But these are all one of a kind collectables, so I will eventually succumb to putting one in my Hawaiian shirt collection.
 
 
All of our customers that have provided us with feedback have reported that they are the talk of the water cooler and consistently win their office contests, as well as often finding themselves engaged in deep conversation about their odd looking shirts.
 
"Often times, my office mates (when I wear my ugly Hawaiian shirt to the office) often point out the fabric from the other shirts I have.  I enjoy watching people look at the shirt, and try to figure out where they’ve seen some of the other patterns."
 
""Not even the bleeding eyeballs detracts from the pleasure of this magnificent shirt!".
 
That's all for now folks, grab yourself one of these shirts and have a little fun this Summer. Mahalo and have a great day! Charles
 

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