Talk Story with Western Aloha's Founder

Paul Sullivan in a cowboy hat against a green and brown barn door in Waimea — Paul Sullivan in Waimea

"Talk story" is what people in Hawaii call a good, unhurried conversation.

Where did you grow up, and how did you end up in Hawaii?

I grew up in Maryland, which was and still mostly is horse country. We were closer to ranch-style homes and small farms than big cattle ranches, and my great outdoors was the stream and woods in my neighborhood. I've always loved being outdoors, both on the water and in the mountains. I rowed crew in college and afterward had no idea what to do for a career, so I decided to do what I really wanted to do. I moved to Glacier Bay, Alaska, to kayak around the glaciers. I got a commercial driver's license as a way to support myself. For the winter, I figured it would be smart to find somewhere with more daylight. So I followed the humpback whales and moved to Hawaii to try to work at Volcanoes National Park. After getting to see a frozen river of solid water in action, I wanted to see a molten river of liquid earth. But I couldn't get a job at the park, so I moved to Kona and started driving a truck for a local nursery and paddling for Kai ʻOpua Canoe Club.

What was your first impression of Waimea?

I was blown away. I drove up there from Kona on a day off and couldn't believe how it combined everything I loved about being outdoors. It was the most amazing place I had ever seen, and I started trying to figure out a way I might be able to live there one day. Now I live on the dry side of Waimea, right next to one of the largest cattle ranches in the US. In the winter, I can see snow on Mauna Kea from my kitchen window. And it's only 20 minutes to the ocean and endless summer.

So are you a Paniolo?

Not a Paniolo. Just a big fan. I think I share their appreciation for being outdoors. I'm just grateful to get to live in the same place.

Paul Sullivan holding a lariat at a paddock fence in Waimea

Where did the name Western Aloha come from?

I grew up in horse country wearing Western shirts. And I've always loved the prints of Aloha shirts. I wanted an Aloha shirt that fit like my Western shirts, so I decided to make a Western Aloha shirt. And then it occurred to me that Hawaii Island can be viewed as a combination of those two things. So the name was pretty easy.

Why start a clothing company?

I wanted to do something that combined a business with something creative and that would be an adventure. I started working on brand and design ideas around 2013, thinking, how hard can it be to figure out how to make a shirt? Then came the school of hard knocks of apparel manufacturing. It was and still is very humbling, but we launched in January 2018 with eight original prints and have continued from there.

What's your favorite shirt?

Palaka. I think I bought my first one in 1993 at a thrift store to bus tables at the Kona Ranch House. Then I stopped wearing it to work because it was my favorite shirt and I didn't want to mess it up. It's definitely a "me" shirt. (Read more in Palaka, Hawaii's Original Work Shirt.)

Which prints do people love most?

Alenuihaha has been a favorite since the start. It takes the famous Japanese great wave and puts Mauna Kea where Mount Fuji would be, with outrigger canoes in place of the boats. And we sell a lot of palaka, which some people call the real Hawaiian shirt.

What did you do before Western Aloha?

I've been a lawyer, a truck and school bus driver, an ice cream scooper and delivery driver, a summer school teacher, a bricklayer's laborer, the manager of a publicly traded investment fund, a waiter, and an Amtrak train detective. I detected very little. I also just wrote a book about virtual reality and artificial intelligence. I'm kind of a jack of all trades, master of none. But hopefully, one day, maybe just one.

What does "Take it easy. But take it." mean?

Before my first outrigger race, our coach told the crew, "You take it easy. But you take it." Relax, but go all in. It's become how I at least try to do things. And it's our motto.

Who's the boar?

That's Humphrey. A friend took him in as a stray piglet near Hilo, and he learned to surf the break at Honoliʻi. But he got huge and had to retire from surfing. There's usually a surfing pig or two around at any given time here in Hawaii. (Meet him in Our Story.)

What do you do when you're not working?

Paddle, mostly stand-up these days because I travel too much right now to put in the necessary commitment to join a club. Three or four days a week, if I can.