HE GREATER THAN I
If you live in Hawai‘i, HE>I is a symbol that you you’ve probably seen on countless car windows, bumpers and street signs. The three letters separated by a mathematical symbol is more than just a logo for a brand, it’s a message, and the kids behind it can turn you into believers.
Kainoa and Kaimana Plember—the brothers behind HE>I (He Greater Than I) are candid about how the logo came together. “We came up with the name in 2003, I was just looking for something to put on my old Nokia cell phone. I started with the greater than sign, I thought that was pretty positive. Then I just kind of got one of my favorite bible verses and it came to HE>I,” explains Kaimana. “Once Reid from Olivia [the band] saw it, he was like, ‘I get it! I get it! you guys have to make shirts or something!’ Now here we are with a shop and everything.”
Their shop just came together this past July by the sugar mill in Waialua. It’s has very limited hours but it sustains itself. “I work construction and my brother is at Starbucks every morning so we only open the shop three days a week. But it does well. People from all over the island come and check us out,” says Kainoa. The Plember brothers stick out like sore thumbs in The Country, but not in a bad way. They just have a style all their own that developed through their travels. Being different can sometimes be difficult but owning a brand that crosses between beliefs and profits can be even more challenging. The duo is going to keep their beliefs but they don’t want to abuse them.
Zen: So you two are born and bred on the North Shore right?
Kainoa: I was born 1983 right across from Ted's [Bakery], been in the same house my whole life. I went to Kahuku for school.
Kaimana: I was born in 1985, same house [laughs]. But I went to Kamehameha [high school] for junior and senior year.
HE>I has gotten bigger huh?
Yeah. We just started with a few tees and stickers. Now, we do have a pretty big following. It’s still not much though. It’s a slow growth I would say. People are really into the stickers. We just make what we want to wear.
Yeah we have the Christian following for sure. I know like 20 people with a tattoo of the logo, which is a very cool thing. We definitely want to represent god.
What’s your guys future plans for the brand?
T-shirts for sure, stickers, and maybe jackets and stuff. But right now we are kind of in a dilemma. Not too sure what we want to do with it. We don’t know if we are supposed to make graphic tees and sell it to [Christian] bookstores and stuff or keep it tight and keep it more cool.
If guys are getting tattoos they would probably buy a tee shirt but we don’t want to just make thousands of tees for Christian bookstores and it would just feel like selling out. Not that we don’t want to do stuff for Christian people but we just like cool creative things. We want to keep our beliefs but bring a legit creative level for our products.
There are so many people doing creative things in the Christian market, like Richard Mulder (a professional skateboarder) for example. He’s been wanting to help us out for a while now and he does a lot of creative things.
How have the changes down here affected you?
Traffic is horrendous. That’s what’s probably on everyone’s mind. I don’t know what has to change but we need to do something about that very quick.
It’s good and bad. For some people, their businesses must be thriving, but it sucks if we can’t even go eat lunch on the weekends. Another thing for me is kids seem to grow up way too fast. Kids used to do so many quality things with their families, some outdoor activities. Maybe it’s all the Myspace and Facebooks and stuff but kids are growing up way too fast. They need to enjoy being kids.
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カイノアとカイマナプレマー
NorthShore発信ブランドHE>Iのプロデュサー。神様（He）が自分たち（I）より偉大（>）と言う意味があるブランド名。今ではワイアルアにお店も出しファンが大勢いる。
