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The Puinsai Clothing Company, located on the 2300 block of 14th Street, was founded in 1994, the idea spawned by Kennel while he was working at Duke’s Canoe Club on Waikiki Beach in 1993, according to the company’s Web site.
Kennel decided as an act of gratitude for the Waikiki Beach Boys accepting him into their family, he printed 100 shirts as a gift, each emblazoned with the group’s favorite term, “PUINSAI.”
“The Beach Boys wore them with pride and soon locals and visiting tourists alike were approaching Christian to see how they could get their own T-shirts,” according to the Web site.
Overwhelmed by the number of requests to produce shirts, Kennel enlisted the help of his co-worker, Lucas. The pair founded the company a year later.
The company honored their late cofounder’s memory, posting on the main page a photo of Lucas, sitting near the ocean and looking far off into the distance. Beside him is the phrase, “Spread the Aloha,” the company’s tagline.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2008. Read the original PDF.