Hilo Hattie files for bankruptcy protection, again

It seams that Hilo Hattie is on the rocks again, their parent company has filed for bankruptcy protection and it's not the first rodeo for the once beloved brand.  Back in 2008 Hilo Hattie files for bankruptcy, citing $23M in debt. Today the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last night, listing debts of between $10 million and 50 million.

With another well known Hawaiian shirt business and related textile suppliers and Hawaiian shirt manufacturers indicating that sales are decent for this time of the year, you have to wonder what they are doing wrong.

Let me be the first to say that I am a fan of the brand as well as history behind Hilo Hattie. But I have to say that I have never been a fan of their clothing, especially the shirts.

The last time I was in a Hilo Hattie store, which was the San Diego location, I found the selection to be minimal and the men's shirts were sort of cheap looking. I expected to see better.

While the parent company will never publicly say why they are in dire straits financially, an educated guess is that they made bad investments in and outside of Hilo Hattie. Again, Hawaiian shirt sales for this time of month are relatively strong and with peak season right around the corner its shaping up to be another good year.

I know what I am about to say will bring out the haters but they should dissolve the company and put an end to repeatedly stiffing all of their creditors and investors. They were very close to dissolving in a prior bankruptcy, so maybe this time it will actually happen.