Kamanuailehua x The Keiki Dept.

It is always an honor when someone asks us to collaborate, but this particular collaboration will definitely always be close to my heart. Leilani, owner of The Keiki Dept saw a post we made of our native birds and immediately asked us to collaborate on a collection with her. From this, Kamanʻailehua was created.

Kamanuʻailehua refers to the native birds who drink the nectar of the ʻōhiʻa lehua blossom and is part of the name given to my son at birth. This name carries special meaning in our ʻohana as it appears multiple times in our moʻokūauhau and was intended to bridge the gap between generations. Some of the birds depicted are now extinct, but I feel it is our kuleana to intertwine them into this design so that we can learn from the past and change our actions in order to help shape the future our keiki will be living in. Birds depicted: ʻiʻiwi, mamo, ʻapapane, ʻakiapōlāʻau, ʻōʻō. Some of these birds are threatened, some are critically endangered, and sadly - some are extinct. These birds and many other animals heavily rely on a balanced ecosystem, with the nectar of lehua blossoms in particular.- Kea Peters

Collaborations are a wonderful way to explore different areas of your business that you normally wouldnt, or even to share a meaningful story. We were so proud to spotlight our native birds and connect it to our keiki. Both Leilani and I created this collection with our sons in mind. So often, fashion is focused around wahine and it was nice to create a collection with our keiki kāne in mind. It was so fun to collaborate with another Native Hawaiian Mom-Owned business.

A portion of the proceeds from this project will go towards the ʻŌhiʻa Love Seed Storage Project