What’s up guys? Kenny here, founder of Kenny Flowers. Yep, that guy who loved his Dad’s hand-me-down Hawaiian shirts so much, that he quit his job in the city four years ago and moved to Bali to live out an island dream and start making fun, tropical shirts for his friends.
As the man in motion behind the brand - the question I get asked the most is probably: Do I sit on a beach in Bali, rocking a KF shirt, drinking coconuts and dreaming up new designs all day, every day? Well, yes. Sometimes. While I’m fully embodying the lifestyle I envisioned when I started KF a few years ago, I’m also a work hard/play hard kind of guy. The beer always tastes better after you get the job done, right?
In-between sunset sessions, big vacations, KF Spring Breaks and many happy hours, I’m also the one leading our dream team in the factories, working long hours online, offline, and everywhere in between to make sure you guys are out there thriving and living your best lives in Kenny Flowers.
On a recent trip to Bali, where the shirts are made, I took a step back from what’s been by far our biggest year yet and realized - I’ve been pretty heads down on things.
Although I’ve been running the brand and growing the business these last couple years, I’ve been so focused on it as a business, living and grinding in the day-to-day that... all of a sudden we’re a lot bigger than I could have ever imagined. We’ve tripled our growth this year. We tripled the year before that. Our shirts are getting spotted everywhere from music festivals, to office fridays. I’ve heard awesome stories from friendships being made in airports (when two strangers spotted each other in KF), to brothers getting each other the same shirt for Christmas. Jimmy Buffett even rocks our shirts on stage these days (and presumably in Margaritaville). So does Barstool’s El Prez during beach days and pizza reviews. We’ve recently had the opportunity to invite the ladies to our pool party, introducing women’s swimwear to go with our men’s swim trunks this year thanks to my fiance’s golden touch. All in all, a whole lot more people have joined the party I set out to create in 2015, and they’re making it their own. I can’t even express to you guys how awesome that feels.
And, since a lot of you guys out there don’t know me as well as the friends and friends-of-friends that got us started in the first year, I wanted to (florally) introduce myself. I’m the guy who wants to help you treat every happy hour like a night out, every weekend like a vacation, and every vacation like a year of retirement. In an ideal world, I’d love to personally be there for all the good times, to have a round of beers with everyone that’s ever taken a chance on KF, and whoever has rocked us proud during the most special of occasions, from bachelor parties, to destination weddings, to honeymoons and graduations (or every weekend), because it means a lot to me - and hey, hopefully someday we can.
But in the meantime, and until that day, this blog is simply a place to have a good time and share a bit more with what’s going on behind the designs - Whether it’s hilarious and heartwarming customer shirt stories that deserve to be heard, my best tips for my favorite places to travel, what my thoughts are behind each product I make, useful style information so you can pull off a Hawaiian at your next wedding, what to wear when, features on other brands we love, tunes we’re jammin’ to on floats, etc. etc. etc. We can’t wait to get some awesome stuff out to you guys on here.
Because, let’s be honest - it’s never been just about the shirts. Really, the shirt is just a cover, which sets the tone, puts you in the zone to be out there at your best, being you.
Hopefully you’ll find something valuable here on The Unbuttoned Blog, when you need it, and enjoy following along the KF journey, and creating yours.
Cheers,
Kenny
PS. Drop a comment if there’s something you want to hear about.
