Although he has been in business for quite a few years, Jacky Buder decided to keep up with Kapahulu's booming economy by planting his company in the community.
Buder instituted Barefoot League LLC earlier this year in the new Safeway Center complex called The Avenue Shops.
The clothing apparel store offers T-shirts, hats, bags and pendants for men, women and children mostly in the Barefoot League brand — which contains its signature logo of a foot with the Hawaiian Islands as toes — as well as other locally owned clothing companies.
"Our logo is the one that's very unique because it's very catchy,"
explained Buder, a resident of Kaimuki. "A lot of people started to take notice of our brand, and a lot of famous people in Hawaii started to wear it, like Colt Brennan."
Buder, 37, says he prides himself in the non-outrageous, cleaner types of designs that his company produces.
"Our designs are mostly positive designs,"
stated Buder, who employs five workers at Barefoot League. "We don't like to put any profanity on them. We try to bring out classier designs."
"We're also trying to showcase Hawaii kind of aspects in a lot of our designs, so we've been getting a lot of tourists and locals who come to our store and really like them,"
he added.
The roughly 700-square-foot location also sells slippers and sunglasses brought in from the mainland.
"It actually took awhile for (Safeway representatives) to let me introduce my brand because they actually wanted an established business to come in that location. But finally, they gave us a shot,"
Buder stated. "This is my second (business). I actually had another clothing company before this one, so I learned all the mistakes from the first one. And now I'm trying to apply what I learned on this new one."
As for the community, Buder is currently working with the owner of Ecosystems in various community service projects, such as donating T-shirts for muscular dystrophy, domestic violence and Mother's Day events, as well as the Children's Miracle Network.
"Hopefully, the more established we get, the more we can give back to the community,"
Buder shared.
