Crazy Shirts: The first 40 years

Advertiser Staff

• 1961: Rick Ralston and a friend airbrushed towels on the sidewalks of Catalina Island off the California coast. Ralston practiced his craft on a T-shirt and wore it around. After a tourist bought it literally off his back, he gave up airbrushing towels and switched to T-shirts.

• 1962: Ralston arrived in Hawai'i for a summer vacation and, airbrush in hand, painted designs on blank T-shirts. Tourists stood in line as he painted in Waikiki.

• 1964: Ralston opened his first store, Ricky's Crazy Shirts, in vacant shop space in the International Market Place. The T-shirts depicted hot rods, monsters and bogus logos. Shirts sold for $1.95 to $6.

• 1968: The company moved to a factory on Nimitz Highway. With 10,000 square feet, it housed the administration and production facilities for 12 years.

• 1970: The first of four stores opened in Ala Moana Center on the mauka side near Sears. The store featured stained-glass lamps, old gilded cash registers and dark wood accents. Annual sales were $500,000.

• 1971: Sales hit $1 million.

• 1972: The first Crazy Shirts store opened on the Mainland in El Cajon, Calif.

• 1977: Sales passed $5 million.

• 1981: The Mainland Co. was established in Southern California as a sister company to Crazy Shirts Inc.

• 1982: The present administrative headquarters was built in Halawa Valley, with 46,000 square feet under roof, natural cedar, concrete lamp posts from 1928, and other antiques.

• 1986: Ralston was named retailer of the year by Retail Merchants of Hawai'i. The company opened its first store in Colorado ski country.

• 1988: Sales exceeded $10 million. Crazy Shirts employed 650 people in 37 stores and two factories.

• 1992: The number of Mainland stores grew to 23, including one at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

• 1994: Crazy Shirts bought the 'Aiea Sugar Mill for $19 million. Sales were around $90 million.

• 1995: A joint-venture partnership was formed with The Daiei Inc. and Marubeni Corp. to operate specialty stores in Japan called American Market Place, selling Crazy Shirts products.

• 1997: The third Crazy Shirts shop on Guam opened at Tumon Bay. Other stores opened on Fifth Avenue and at Times Square in New York, as well as in Florida. Headquarters and factory moved to California, resulting in 140 layoffs.

• 1998: A recession in Japan contributed to Crazy Shirts' worst year ever. The company hired the Scottland Group, a Los Angeles-based turnaround consultant, and was forced to restructure short-term debt and close stores.

• 1999: Crazy Shirts lost money on sales of $55 million. The number of stores dropped to 42 from 54 in 1998. President Randy Yeager left the company and was replaced by former Danskin executive Bill Almon. At the urging of its lender, the company appointed a new outside board of directors.

• 2000: The company remained in the red. Yeager returned to the company as president. The board of directors was replaced by a new board, including co-chairmen Yeager and Ralston.

• 2001: Crazy Shirts hires an investment banking firm to explore options for raising capital. Selling the company is not ruled out. The company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. California-based Big Dog Holdings Inc. agrees to buy the company's assets for $10 million through the bankruptcy court process.