{"id":223640,"date":"2025-10-14T11:27:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=223640"},"modified":"2025-10-16T15:11:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T01:11:36","slug":"da-palaka-girl-manoa-pop-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/14\/da-palaka-girl-manoa-pop-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumna\u2019s \u2018Da Palaka Girl\u2019 small business hosts successful <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa pop-up"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_223636\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-223636\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-1.jpg\" alt=\"Riana Kawamura and Evangeline Kawamura posing in front of their pink palaka backdrop.\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-223636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-1.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-1-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-223636\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Da Palaka Girl co-owners Riana Kawamura and Evangeline Kawamura.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa <a href=\"https:\/\/cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/Majors\/FDM\">fashion design and merchandising<\/a> alumna Riana Kawamura returned to her alma mater to host a highly anticipated pop-up for her business, <a href=\"https:\/\/dapalakagirl.com\/\">Da Palaka Girl<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The small business, which she co-owns with her mother, Evangeline Kawamura, is known for their palaka-print tops and accessories.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_223637\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-223637\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Line of people around the Â鶹´«Ã½M\u0101noa Campus Center\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-223637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-2-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-223637\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of people waited in line for the pop-up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;I noticed a gap in the market\u2014most palaka clothing was designed for older women,&rdquo; said Riana Kawamura. &ldquo;I wanted to create more modern, cute styles for younger women.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Riana Kawamura\u2019s classes at <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/\">College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> piqued her interest in the field of merchandising and taught her valuable skills that have come in handy as a business owner.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DPp-VFYjkDh\/\">Check out the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Admissions Instagram for more on Kawamura.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;I learned how to build a brand and connect with customers,&rdquo; said Riana Kawamura. &ldquo;Since our demographic is my age, I know what they want, which really helps with marketing and design decisions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Sewing success<\/h2>\n<p>What started out as a sewing hobby for Evangeline Kawamura and an interest in merchandising for Riana Kawamura has blossomed into a local phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p>The Kawamuras are no stranger to success, with every previous pop-up selling out, and online drops that sell out in minutes. Just reaching the one-year mark, their Da Palaka Girl small business has had an overwhelmingly positive response.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_223638\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-223638\" style=\"width: 214px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-3-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"Chloe Trover and Cherisse Henley holding up their palaka top purchases\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-223638\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-3-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-3-93x130.jpg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-3.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-223638\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chloe Trover and Cherisse Henley bought several palaka tops.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;I love that it\u2019s locally made, and the owner is an alumni, so I\u2019m happy to support her,&rdquo; said business marketing major Cherisse Henley. &ldquo;The clothes are just so cute.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Their M\u0101noa pop-up was met with a warm reception by the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa community, as a long line full of hundreds of excited customers stretched around the heart of the campus.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I\u2019ve been looking forward to this for a long time,&rdquo; said Chloe Trover, an international business and marketing major at <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n<h2>Social media marketing spurs excitement<\/h2>\n<p>After experimenting with palaka and posting a few of their pieces on TikTok, demand grew quickly. Based on her experience, Riana Kawamura urges others to be bold.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If you have an idea, just go for it\u2014even if it\u2019s not perfect. If you\u2019re hesitant or hold back, you might limit your potential,&rdquo; said Riana Kawamura. &ldquo;Social media is your biggest tool, so don\u2019t be afraid to use it. Once you commit, go all in.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fashion design and merchandising alumna Riana Kawamura brought her popular apparel brand to the M\u0101noa campus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":223636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,212,476,423,9],"class_list":["post-223640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-fashion","tag-fashion-design-and-merchandising","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-fashion-da-palaka-girl-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223640"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223850,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223640\/revisions\/223850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}