Twenty Years of T-Shirt Adventures

"I want a goat, chickens, hay, nails, rabbits, wheel barrow, ducks, horses, cows, baby chicks, the building...let's see, rope, tools, um, I'm probably leaving something out but that's pretty much the idea. I've had a couple printers come by and I've given them this same list and I never hear back from them."

That was what led to my very first order from Makawao Feed back in 1987. I had moved to Maui a couple of years before after running a screen printing business in Portland, Oregon. I had big printing contracts with Nike, The Rose Festival, Portland Meadows and many other companies. After operating what amounted to a t-shirt assembly line 24/7 I was ready for the slower pace of Upcountry Maui. I hadn't even considered starting another screen printing business, but then I got to know the nice people at Makawao Feed and, well, I couldn't help myself.

Makawao Feed is just a part of Upcountry history now, having been transformed into an art gallery like so many other businesses in town. But every month I get to turn other people's dreams and ideas into beautiful t-shirt art and I still get a thrill when I see them being worn around the island.