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TheBuzz

BY ERIKA ENGLE

Tuesday, May 22, 2001

Hawaii
exposure,
take two

TWO Hawaii companies with no official connection whatsoever to the movie "Pearl Harbor" have received glowing exposure in the Forbes FYI magazine list of "50 things that are the best that America has to offer ...." Had the sentence written by Editor Christopher Buckley (William F. Buckley's son) ended there the products' pedigrees might have been taken for granted. But the rest of the sentence hints that standard scientific or mathematical procedures were lacking in the list's compilation: " ... because we say they are. So there."

In the Summer 2001 edition, Buckley wrote, "The key question, when it came to the final selections, was -- Does any one else do or make this better? In every instance, the emphatic answer came back, "Probably not."

The local products on the list are Kona's Koa Plantation coffee and "tropical shirts" by Kamehameha Garment Co.

TheBuzz attempted to grill Buckley on the depth of the publication's research, whether Kona coffee from other plantations was studied and how many sleepless nights may have been spent by caffeine-crazed correspondents, as well as the extent of aloha shirt sampling which may or may not be common in New York City where Forbes is published. Buckley was unavailable for comment -- he was on a boat.

Brad Walker, president and owner of Kamehameha Garment Co., was reached on the golf course. The magazine employee who contacted him, he said, stated that the shirts were not for him, but Walker sent one in his size in addition to the four requested samples, "cause you're in New York and you need them," he said.

Buckley used more space recalling the "floral" shirts his mother made for the family prior to their move to the islands courtesy of the U.S. Navy than he did describing the local company, but his words proved effective nevertheless.

Walker said as soon as Forbes subscribers got their magazines, "the Internet took off -- online orders went up like 10 times." He said a full-page ad he took out in Penthouse magazine earlier this year resulted in a small increase of online orders, "but our stuff is upscale at $65 to $75 (a shirt) so Forbes was it, that was just a godsend."

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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com