Heading to the beach this Labor Day weekend? Chances are you’ll see Tommy Bahama-branded chairs, umbrellas and other gear spread out all over the sand. This tropical kitsch brand, which began in 1992 selling men’s silk Hawaiian shirts and then ventured into far-flung areas like furniture and restaurants, is nearly everywhere by the ocean these days, from Florida to California to New Jersey.
” At the time, Tommy Bahama was struggling. Its founders positioned the brand as a fashion line for men who belonged to country clubs. They were “Ralph Lauren aficionados,” Bob Emfield, one of the founders, said of the brand’s target customer in a podcast this year. They were looking to create a design that evoked the “Sunbelt and dressing down,” Emfield said, and were set on using the name of an island close to the mainland United States. “Hawaii had been beat to death,” he said.
And all cheap Chinese junk.
'It's Better In The Bahamas'