Our Legacy

It all started in 1964 in our surfboard shop when our founder, Dave Rochlen, couldn't find the right shorts to surf in. Inspired by a LIFE Magazine article featuring Russian tourists bathing in the Black Sea wearing pajamas, he asked his wife, Keanuenue, to hem some at the knee and sew up the fly. Jams were born. The first bright, baggy pairs were sewn at the kitchen table and sold at his Surf Line Hawaii shop and out of the trunk of the car at Makaha Beach. Beaches everywhere would never be the same. In the mid 1980's we began to see a new demand for Jams of the original 60's style, but this time the art was funky, abstract, and bold. These iconic shorts took the nation by storm. By the 1990's the business had shifted from Surf to Resort, and our audience kept expanding. Today, Dave Rochlen's son, continues to carry on his father's legacy creating Great Clothes for Real People, and as always Made in Hawaii since 1964.