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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Wearable attitude fills
a new store at Ala MoanaBOYS are smelly.
They come from The Stupid Factory.
Chicks Rule.
These are not necessarily the opinions of the Star-Bulletin or your columnist (mother of three boys and one girl). Nevertheless, the sentiments are found on pajamas, shirts, watches and more than 500 other accessories now sold at Ala Moana Center by David & Goliath Presents The Stupid Factory.
Delving into equal opportunity, the company offers a line of fun, naughty and downright randy shirts and stuff for guys as well.
The words irreverent and quirky describe most of the merchandise in the store, on the mall level, Macy's end, Shirokiya side of the center.
The line was established in 1999 by Todd Goldman, a recovering certified public accountant with a master's degree in tax accounting.
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Talia Harper of Alabama, tries on pajamas at David & Goliath at Ala Moana Center.
He took that direction in college for his parents and because "I didn't want to go to art school and be a struggling artist."
He did the CPA thing "for a year and hated it. I quit and got into the fashion industry," he said.
Goldman started with a men's streetwear company and sold it.
To establish David & Goliath Inc., he borrowed $250,000 from his father and "I paid him back in three months." Dad David is now his business partner.
"He runs the business, I do the art," Todd said.
Do you ever have any high-level accounting discussions? "No."
The education helps with the business, however.
The Ala Moana store is David & Goliath's first independent store, opened Friday in a partnership between the company and Hawaii-based Waikiki Trader Corp. On the same day, a sister store opened in London.
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Gerrilyn Galiza wears a drama queen outfit.
"We do wholesale. We're looking for retail partners," said Goldman.
Mutual friends connected Goldman with Jim Geiger, president of Waikiki Trader.
The latter has some 40 retail stores in Hawaii, Guam and on the mainland, representing different concepts and carrying differing merchandise, including Endangered Species, LeSportsac, jewelry, hat, bath and body, and general merchandise stores in Waikiki and on Maui. It will open another David & Goliath store at 715 Front St. in Lahaina in the coming weeks.
"We wanted to get the (Ala Moana store) open before Thanksgiving and get employees accustomed to the merchandise and the systems," Geiger said.
Designs for girls who are tweens, teens, twenty-somethings and beyond are not all about boy-bashing, although one of the characters is named Jack the Nerd. Trendy Wendy is a bit of a princess, or worse. Eve L. is not really evil, "she is just a little different," according to the e-commerce-capable company Web site at www.davidandgoliathtees.com. She wears black "on the inside."
You're familiar with the Hello Kitty merchandise by Sanrio? David & Goliath offers Good-bye Kitty.
"I actually spoke to Sanrio," Goldman said. "They kind of thought it was funny."
The store shies away from some of the edgier merchandise sold via the Web site, said Geiger.
"We're more after the teens and moms."
Goldman has drawn ever since he could hold a pencil, according to his bio.
The clothing and accessories give him a medium to express his wacky sense of humor.
"I really don't have any competitors," he said.
"What's out there is licensed product, the Simpsons, Spongebob, coming from TV, Snoopy, The Cat in the Hat, but what we're doing is building characters based on a T-shirt and going the other way," Goldman said.
"We started with merchandise and now we're going into books and cartoons. We have a huge fan base," Goldman said.
The company has signed with King Features, which licenses Betty Boop and Popeye.
The business success does not represent his quest for revenge from some trauma in his youth. "I can make something up, if you'd like," he offered. "I was raised by bearded women ... "
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
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
