By Richard Melendez, Digital Editor
Have you ever wanted to work in a treehouse surrounded by cool toys? Well, Crazy Shirts’ headquarters in Halawa isn’t that, buuuuut it kinda sorta is.
A few of us from This Week were lucky enough to be granted a tour of the Crazy Shirts facility, and I gotta say, this is easily one of the coolest offices I’ve ever seen. Built in 1983, the entire structure is made from wood, making it stand out from the neighborhood’s other more warehouse-y type buildings.
As we walked in, we were greeted by a huge, wooden, spiral stairway that made us think we had somehow wandered into Bishop Museum by mistake. It turns out that stairway was once in the home a certain James Dole. (Yes, *that* James Dole.) Throughout the facility are artifacts of all sorts—antique furniture, vintage toy cars and airplanes, some of which were actually used as props in old war films!
Some of the coolest items were the ones that highlighted Crazy Shirts’ long, storied history in Hawai‘i (55 years!) including classic t-shirt designs, photos from their earliest days and old advertisements. We even saw their “hall of fame” where name jerseys commemorated those employees who’ve worked there for 30 years. That there were several of these jerseys on display is probably a pretty good sign that they’re deserving of their slot on Pacific Business News’ list of “Hawai‘i’s Best Workplaces.”)
After witnessing pretty much every step of the process—from design to production to visual merchandising and marketing (we even got to see CSU where their new employees get trained)—we’ve certainly got a new appreciation for Crazy Shirts. Something we’ll keep in mind the next time we’re in one of their shops.
