Fads & Finds
Two TV personalities market ties

The three top ties are Mizutani’s; the others are Tomimbang’s. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Television and ties. There seems to be a tie-in here in Hawai‘i, as our anchormen are about the only men (aside from attorneys going to court) who wear jackets and ties on a regular basis.

Now two television personalities, Ron Mizutani, sports director at KHON, and Emme Tomimbang, producer and host of "Emme’s Island Moments" on KGMB, have introduced their own Island-inspired ties for men.

Mizutani wears a tie every day when he’s on air. But he was frustrated by the choice he found on store shelves - no excitement, no local flavor. So he decided to make his own.

He and his wife, Michelle, started Hawaii Ties: Your Tie to the Islands in their living room. After two months of trial and error, the entrepreneurial pair settled on 100 percent cotton as their fabric of choice.

Each tie is fully lined and painstakingly finished. The textile designs, 50 in all, run the gamut from pretty florals to nostalgic postcard prints. "Colors range from loud to subtle," Mizutani said.

Hawaii Ties are available at Native Books & Beautiful Things (both locations), Under a Hula Moon in Kailua and Sharkey’s in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island. The Mizutanis also will be guest artists at Sam’s Club just before Father’s Day.

In addition, Costco is entertaining the idea of taking the ties nationwide. Price range: $21 to $26.

Tomimbang recently introduced Keeping Your Hawaii Ties, her own line of men’s ties.

"After all the traveling I’ve done to ‘transplant cities,’ I’ve noticed a lot of our local boys having to wear suits, like in Redmond at Microsoft, in New York and Silicon Valley. I thought it would be fun to have them show their ‘Island ties’ by offering retro prints in men’s ties," Tomimbang said.

The marketing tagline is "No matter what time zone you’re in, here’s a way of keeping your Hawai‘i ties." Tomimbang’s goal is to market the accessories on the Mainland.

The ties are being worn by the staff at Alan Wong’s Pineapple Room at Liberty House (a pineapple print, of course).

As with the aloha wear line that bears her name, Tomimbang doesn’t actually design the ties herself; they’re manufactured by Iolani Sportswear and made of rayon, cut from retro-inspired engineered prints of hula dancers, ukuleles and Aloha Tower.

There are three prints in three to four colorways each. Keeping Your Hawai‘i Ties sell for $35 at Liberty House.

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