Pineapple County

ahine (pronounced wah-HEE-neh) means “Surfer Girl” in Hawaiian. Since practically everyone surfs in Hawaii (area code, 808), I guess you could say this is where the wahine finds her fashion to be chic by day, fly by night.

Seven years old now, Pineapple County is popular with both locals and the tourists who happen to find it. The 20-to-40-something wahine finds fun and very trendy clothing here, at a fraction of the big brand cost. The cost of living is very high in Hawaii, among the highest in the country, so the locals find a way to turn it out on a budget. Almost every piece of clothing is between $20-80, with designer lines in the low hundreds.

The store’s line of logo merchandise is a huge hit with both locals and tourists. “Pineapple County Original Goods” range from the cutest surfer girl tanks and tees (think: the movie “Blue Crush”, not Abercrombie or Hollister)…to tote bags for beach gear…and cute surfer boy tees that the wahine can buy for their sweeties.

One of the very, very local items to look for: “Ginger 13” earrings. The designer mismatches the earrings, so you get two earrings with the same theme, but they’ll be different lengths or have different charms hanging from them. Often, the charms are made of shells or have some other local twist. Look closely on a night out on the town, and you’ll see all the local girls wearing Ginger 13.

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