KAPAA — Ever since Taryn Rodighiero started her own clothing company, KaiKini Bikinis, about four years ago in a spare bedroom in her home, she has had a dream: a place to create and sew her handmade beachwear. It is
KAPAA — Ever since Taryn Rodighiero started her own clothing company, KaiKini Bikinis, about four years ago in a spare bedroom in her home, she has had a dream: a place to create and sew her handmade beachwear.
It is one that finally came true on Tuesday, when she and her husband, Tyler, unveiled her company’s new manufacturing facility in Kapaa — a milestone that also capped off Hawaii Fashion Month on Kauai.
“I’m so ecstatic,” Taryn Rodighiero said in between tours of her company’s manufacturing space. “I had a space but it was about half this size and we were all literally back to back sitting at the (sewing) machines, so it’s so nice to actually have room now to breathe.”
The grand opening also featured a fashion show — the fourth this month — that included selections from 14 Kauai designers and 11 Hawaii designers. About 70 people attended the private fashion show and grand opening of the KaiKini Bikinis manufacturing facility.
Toby Porter, a Hawaii fashion incubator for Hawaii Fashion Month, said the program began last year in Honolulu by Gov. Neil Abercrombie as a way to “enable people to show what it is that they do, to show and sell their work, and to elevate Hawaii fashion.”
“In our second year, we’re just thrilled to be over here — to come see the energy and be a part on the ground as it takes off,” Porter said.
Fellow fashion incubator, Melissa White, agreed and said collaboration with local designers and the Kauai Chamber of Commerce was successful.
“It was a fantastic partnership that we hope to continue,” White said.
