What type of clothing says “I’m relaxed” more than a Hawaiian shirt? The question is rhetorical. The two founders of Tombolo returned to Parasol Projects for their second pop-up shop on Elizabeth Street to spread a new Hawaiian style to trendy New Yorkers.
“We’re trying to liberate the Hawaiian shirt from its kitschy connotation,” says Chris Galasso. Friends with his business partner Mike Sard since they were seven, the two are in complete agreement about the effect of their shirts. “It’s like a portable vacation,” says Sard. “You put it on and you are transported to a different state of mind,” adds Galasso.
In geographical terms, a tombolo is a bar of sand joining an island to the mainland — not completely island, not completely land. The in-between metaphor applies to the garments too: not a t-shirt, but not necessarily a dress shirt either. A little bit of both.
When asked what the most important element of a Hawaiian shirt is, the answer was unanimous: “it’s a canvas for original artwork” — even storytelling. Take the details on the ‘Midnight Snack’ shirt both founders wore during our visit: a bare-chested man standing in the water, holding a torch and the speared fish he just caught. Sashimi is on the menu tonight. Can you say your shirt tells such a story?
Tombolo is based in Brooklyn and does business mainly online, but their Nolita pop-up let them meet their clientele directly — attracting Hunter S. Thompson’s disciples and other originals who want their clothing to say something more than “I’m normal.”
Tombolo @ 171 Elizabeth Street · August 2018