Family affair

Iolani Sportswear clan works together on fashions and music

FAMILIES will turn out in droves at restaurants around town Sunday for the annual Mother's Day tour of brunches and buffets, making it easy to lose sight of Mom and other relatives in the crowd.

To keep better track of loved ones, consider putting them in easy-to-spot matching attire so even if someone goes M.I.A., a sharp-eyed Samaritan will be able to return your missing family member straight to you.

MOTHER'S DAY FASHION SHOW Showcase of mother-daughter designs from Iolani Sportswear and music by Manoa DNA: Place:Macy's Pearlridge, Island Attitudes, Level 2 Time:Noon Saturday Admission:Free

Iolani Sportswear will be sharing a few gift and dressing ideas during a Mother's Day fashion show at Macy's Pearlridge on Saturday, in advance of the big day.

The event, like the business itself, will be a real family affair. Recruited as models are mother-daughter relatives and friends of Iolani Sportswear owners, the Kawakami clan. Music will be performed by Manoa DNA, a trio comprising second-generation Iolani Sportswear President Lloyd Kawakami and sons Nick and Alex. Kawakami's wife, Carla, is the show's producer, responsible for all the backstage logistics.

That kind of teamwork has been part of the family dynamic since Lloyd was a child.

"I remember going on deliveries with my dad in a Volkswagen van, but he'd do all the heavy lifting," he said.

Although Lloyd grew up helping out at the factory, taking over the family business was not something he took for granted or thought about much, even in college. He admits he spent as much time playing and partying as working toward his business administration degree.

"My dad's a real special guy. He just said to try a lot of different things, but he also said there's a good opportunity (at Iolani) if I wanted it."

EDITH AND KEIJI Kawakami started the company in 1953 with four sewing machines and a cutting table, after Keiji returned home from New York, where he had studied merchandising at New York University and worked at Gimbel's Department Store. Keiji, a World War II 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran, inherited the entrepreneurial gene from his parents, who started Big Save Market on Kauai.

When the opportunity to manufacture aloha shirts arose, Lloyd said, "He didn't know anything about clothing, but he understood merchandising and it sounded like a good idea. Later on, he would say that if he knew everything about the business back then, he probably wouldn't be in it.

"My mom was instrumental in building the physical aspect of the business. She built the facility, basically."

Manufacturing continues to be done in Iolani's Kona Street factory, rather than overseas, to keep jobs in Hawaii.

"When it was time for me to take over, my dad just handed me the keys and said, 'Here.' I didn't even know how to start," Lloyd said. "That's the unusual thing. He gave me free rein, which may or may not have been a good thing."

Keiji had been grooming him for the job, first sending him to Liberty House to learn retailing, then putting Lloyd at the helm of Young Hawaii, a company label geared toward the growing women's market. Prior to that, Iolani had been known primarily as a men's aloha shirt company.

Eventually, Young Hawaii, which had been the company's incubator for new designers, merged with Iolani to create a single brand image, and Nick has been charged with re-energizing Iolani's men's line for the next generation.

"Today, businesses need freshness and newness because the climate is so dynamic. It moves so quickly and we have to continually move and evolve, and that's where Nick comes in," Lloyd said. "He brings a fresh eye, a very creative look and a whole different look that you'll see in the new men's line we're working on now."

"I feel like I'm in the right place at the right time," Nick said, although unlike most of Hawaii's other young designers, he is as obligated to the past as the present, aware of the need to maintain Iolani's legacy as well as pushing his own vision and opening new markets.

"We have very deep roots in the islands, and I don't want to do anything too drastic," he said.

Lloyd said: "Watching Nick, I can understand now what my dad did for me, because sometimes I can't resist jumping in, and I have to tell myself, 'No, just let him do it his way.'"

LIKE THEIR FATHER, Nick and Alex grew up on the factory floor, although Alex, currently attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says, "It was fun, but I wouldn't want to do some of those jobs ever again."

The most dreaded jobs were wrapping garments in plastic and waking up early to make deliveries.

Right now, Alex is feeling the pull of music, and lured his father and brother into the act. They had played together before at family get-togethers and informal backyard parties, but took Manoa DNA (short for Dad, Nick and Alex) public last fall. They were an instant hit at E&O Trading Co., where they perform a mix of light pop and rock, Hawaiian music and a few original songs every Thursday night.

There's no generation gap when it comes to song choices.

"We pretty much have the same tastes, but we all have different talents," Lloyd said. "Because we're all family, our voices are pretty much the same, so when we do harmonies our vocals are very strong."

The trio recently came back from a successful tour of Japan with Roy Sakuma, where they shared the stage with such performers as Melveen Leed, Raiatea Helm, Kimo Kahoano, Byron Yasui and Noelani Cypriano.

"The girls just loved these hapa boys," Lloyd said.

"You, too," Alex said. "They thought you were our brother. Our much, much older brother."

With Carla accompanying them, and the company left in the hands of longtime lieutenants Grace Tsutahara and Mary Miyaguchi, matriarch Edith was nevertheless compelled to remind the youngsters, "Don't forget, you have Iolani."

"There's no question that my priority is with the business, but (music) is an unusual position, too," Lloyd said. "In some way, maybe the two can work together. As they say, stay tuned."