Pohaku T’s

I loved how everything that was sold here was authentically made in Kauai… but it was a little too «homemade» for me… almost Goodwill quality. The cuts of all the clothes were extremely odd fitting, so I was a little upset that my family and I could’t buy anything worthwhile to wear back on the mainland. And I noticed that a lot of the shirts that had iron on prints on them had a t shirt base from stores like Wetseal and Forever21 (for women). I am not talking down on the hard work these families put into these items, they just weren’t for me.

ALL local Hawai’an made clothing and handcrafts at reasonable prices. No China junk. That’s my sister Carole behind the counter so tell her hi from me when you stop by. I would recommend even if it wasn’t my sisters’ shop. Stop by, you will be glad you did.

I always want to go to the surf shop full of shirts, sandals and jewelry. Plus, there’s plenty of souvenir shopping if you are a tourist.

I love this store and the woman «Michelle» who works there. I shop there every time I go to Kauai. I have a large assortment of her T’s in all sizes, I’ve gained weight since the time before last when i was there so I needed more. I’m sorry they didn’t have more assortment in large sizes. Larger women are kind of overlooked, and invisible. That’s the only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars. It feels shameful to me to have to shop in the mens section. I would have liked to bought a mandarin blouse, but she didn’t have any in my size. I love watching Michelle in action with customers, she’s so good with people. I wish I was a part of her Ohana. But this review isn’t about Michelle, it’s about Pohaku T’s. And truthfully I love this store.

Nicest woman at the counter — made me want a bowl of granola and a cup of herbal tea. So nice!!! The t-​shirts are very high quality — not cheap but nice quality. Hope they will wash up well. The arts and crafts in the store were beautiful and I bought several lovely gifts for the folks at home (ended up keeping some for myself I loved them so much). While the t-​shirts were not cheap, it is important to support local artisans in their craft.

After reading rave reviews I came in excited to shop, sadly there was nothing that struck my interest enough to take home. I appreciate that the items were locally made. I’m not sure how else to say it but the items and designs seemed a bit dated. My opinion may be the minority but I thought it was worth sharing.

Tired of buying souvenirs from Hawaii that were actually made in China or the Philippines? I sure was. However, on my recent visit to Kauai, we got word of Pohaku T’s, a store that only sells items made on Kauai. This place is awesome!
They mostly sell a large variety of T-​Shirts, but you can also find soaps, jewelry, and other crafts and souvenirs. The woman who runs the store is incredibly nice. She gave us tips on some beaches and restaurants to visit. She also translated some of the Hawaiian word on the shirts we bought so we wouldn’t be clueless dopes about our purchases.
Please note that because the T-​Shirts sold here are not made in China, you won’t be able to buy them for 4 bucks. Don’t be cheap! It’s worth it to shell out a little more money for something that was made by local artists.
Pohaku T’s is just on the end of Koloa town, near the gas station. It’s a small store, but not too hard to find. You just might be able to do all your souvenir shopping in one visit here.

This place is fantastic and has a great selection of local products and clothing– all generally high quality and reasonably priced. I always try to find a t-​shirt when I visit Kauai, something different with a local angle, but that is getting harder to find, and it seems like you just see the same products in every store. That is not the case at this store; all of the shirts were very unique and cool. The owner was very helpful and shared some interesting background on the artwork. I bought three tank tops, but I might just go back one more time for another t-​shirt!

BEST selection of shirts & gifts. highly recommend! I found several items here that I couldn’t find elsewhere and their prices are much better than stores in the immediate area. I found shirts ranging from $ 8 to $ 80. T-​shirts, dress shirts, dresses, bags, jewelry. you name it. My family and I came here on our last full day and wish we would’ve come here first. The older gentleman in the store was very sweet and helpful. Only one word of caution, there’s no a/​c so be prepared to be warm while shopping. I had to step out to get a breeze a couple times. Other than that, this is the place to go!

There are many opportunities to buy tourist t-​shirts on Kauai. BUT Pohaku T’s IS THE BEST… My husband and I practically bought out the store. We were not expecting much but we both agree, we have never seen such a diverse selection of styles and designs.
I love that this shop offers locally make garments. Very well made garments and accessories. There are many one of a kind designs. This is not your typical souvenir shop. If that’s what you are looking for, go to an ABC store. Pahaku T’s are definitely one of a kind, well made and the employees are very nice and helpful.
If you are in Koloa for a visit, you must at least visit this store…

I’m wearing one of my Pohaku shirts today and it has brought back fond memories of our Kauai trip last year.
The shop is chock full of beautiful clothing. It was so hard to decide on just a couple. When I went to the counter to pay the owner gave me detailed washing instructions. She also shared the story of the designs which have added to my enjoyment of these shirts. What I thought was just a simple line graphic was instead a artistic representation of a dragon in honor of the year of the dragon (shirt purchased last year during dragon year) Suddenly the dragons head leaped out at me.
We took a couple avocados (huge) available to customers and enjoyed them during the rest of our stay on the island.
I hope to return to Kauai and when I do, I’ll be stopping by Pohaku T’s for more items for my wardrobe and for gifts.

This t-​shirt store is the gem of similar stores in the Koloa area. Very friendly and helpful staff and a great selection of shirts, especially, with a smaller range of other items. The t-​shirts and tank tops here are more tasteful than ones at similar stores in the area, as they do no scream «tourist» and do not have tourist-​trap prices. Although the t-​shirt and tank top prices are reasonable, the prices of the Hawaiian shirts for both men and women are still all around $ 50, like other stores. I do think that the quality of the products here are great and it was fun getting lost in this homey little store for an hour.

We love Carol and the gang at Pohaku T’s. Great LOCAL merchandise and that good CD by Norman Kaawa Solomon, Na Mele O Kauai.

She has a great selection of local items, but the t-​shirt selection is more than impressive. The staff is friendly, helpful, and gave us free papayas when we left!

Es heißt in jedem Hawaii-​Führer: Keiner fliegt zurück, ohne sich irgendwann im Urlaub ein Hawaii-​Hemd gekauft zu haben. Also am besten nicht lange warten sondern sofort zuschlagen und es gleich im Urlaub tragen. Doch wo? Wer das Glück hat, auf der nördlichsten der Hawaii-​Inseln zu sein, auf Kaua’i, dem empfehle ich eindringlich, das Pohaku T’s zu besuchen.
(Siehe Foto unten)
Es ist nicht leicht zu finden. Das aber macht es gleich zu etwas Besonderem. In Koloa an der Poipu Road gibt es ein kleines historisches Zentrum mit Ausstellungsstücken und Gebäuden aus der jungen amerikanischen Geschichte. Natürlich sind auch hier jede Menge kleine Shops eingebunden. Ab von der Straße, versteckt nach hinten gelegen, das flache Holzhaus des Pohaku T’s.
Drinnen voll gestopft mit Hemden und anderen Bekleidungsstücken und Kunsthandwerk. Im Gegensatz zu den großen Shops und T-​Shirt-​Ketten, bei denen in den Hemden am Label meist steht: Made in … und dann China, Indonesia oder Philippines genannt wird, sind die Kleidungsstücke hier lokal entworfen und fast alle auch lokal hergestellt. Das steht nicht nur in den Labeln, das sieht man ihnen auch an. Sie sind geschmackvoller, künstlerischer und authentischer. Nicht die grellen, bunten, aus so vielen Filmen bekannten Hawaii-​Hemden.
Ich bin bekennender Anti-​Shopper! Aber diesen Laden habe ich mit einer Tüte bewaffnet verlassen, in der ein blaues Hemd steckte. Und ich habe es mit Lust getragen, nicht nur auf Hawaii, sondern auch zu Hause in Hamburg und im Urlaub am Mittelmeer.
Tatsache ist auch, dass die Tüte meiner Frau weitaus größer und gefüllter war. Das Beweisfoto habe ich vorsichtshalber nicht eingestellt!
Fazit: Gefallen hat mir der Spruch auf einem T-​Shirt: Never forget you’re as beautiful as Kaua’i. ‘Eben! Locally designed T-​Shirts, Clothing and Crafts findet ihr hier. Geht hin und kauft. Ihr werdet es nicht bereuen. Denn dies hier ist ein echter Tipp, keine Mainstream-​Empfehlung. Fünf Sterne.
P. S. Honolulu oben in der Adresse ist Quatsch. Alle anderen Angaben stimmen. Nur scheiiterte wieder einmal bei der Pflicht-​Ortsangabe die qype-​Geografie.

I was looking for something to give as gifts for my friends that wasn’t mass marketed or cliché. This was the perfect place to go! I found a bunch of soaps made from guava seeds, holy crap it smelled SO good I wanted to eat it (but I refrained)!
There were a lot of clothes; shirts, blouses, skirts, vests, baby stuff. There were many styles as well; tie-​dye, floral, silk screen prints, etc. Some of the other trinkets they offered included photo prints, postcards, jewelry, lotions, candles, soaps, and the list could go on. Because everything is made by local people the availability of some things may vary.
The owner of the place (I believe this is who it was) was very friendly and informative of local sites and about the crafts for sale in the shop. It’s nice when people take the time to treat you like a human being and not just another sale.
Fifth star for the free avocados they offered in a basket! I was craving Hawaii fresh avocados as soon as I stepped on the island. Yum! :D

Very nice selection of the necessary souvenir T’s to bring back home to the family! Good range of sizes, all shirts are local artist’s from the island, and the shirts come with a tag explaining the meaning and about the artist! Always good to support the arts! and the artist who create it!

I can’t add much detail to Dane’s review of this place except to say that in addition to the things described, they also carry pillow covers, placemats and napkins, all in lovely, high quality Hawaiian print fabrics. We’re had a couple of the pillow covers for a few years and just bought two more. We introduced our friends here today and they bought a pillow cover and a couple of shirts. As Dane says, they’re shirts you wouldn’t be ashamed to wear. The store’s owners and staff are also active in the movement to save the monkeypod trees of Koloa from the developer who wants to cut them down for a new shopping center. We signed their petition. Speaking of developers, they’re rampaging in Poipu, which has become a sea of those black fabric construction barriers. Much vegetation has been cut down, the road has been relocated and if you’ve been to Poipu before you will be shocked and saddened at the effort to turn this beautiful, quiet area into Maui. Or Phoenix.

If you’re looking for a real «Local» gift shop, dis is da place. I found some great locally designed and printed T-​shirts here that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to wear – I’m a graphic designer, and I’m real picky. Real silk-​screen printing on quality shirts – not those rubbery iron-​on things with «island» graphics that look like they’re designed in Cleveland. (I was in Hanalei yesterday and was hoping the local surf shop would have cool T-​shirts like the one I got at Surf N Sea on North Shore – no dice. They were fugly!)
They also have a lot of women’s and kid’s clothing, pottery, art prints and other stuff – all locally made from about 30 Kauai producers – so says their great little «Guidebook to our favorite Places” – which includes restaurants, beaches and other shops – mostly around Koloa, Waimea and Hanapepe, which Carole, the owner, told me is not paid advertising, like all those other guide books. She was real nice, and even gave me a couple of avocados from her tree. It’s worth stopping in just to get their guide.
Good stuff – great prices – good Aloha vibe in a great little town (on the way to Poipu-​if you have to go there – personally I avoid it!)
Not on the main shopping drag (watch out for the Timeshare sales people posing as «recreation» info!) – behind the only gas station in town.