Two years ago I was flying back from Oakland to Lihue, next to a guy named Jeff from Living Foods in Kauai. I don’t normally spend flights talking to my neighbors, but for some reason we struck up a conversation. From takeoff until landing, we discussed his business, Kauai, and how much we believed in the magic of the island. At the time, I had been playing around with a number of business ideas. My conversation with Jeff broke something loose.

I wanted to form a new company focused on one thing: the magic of places we love. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. What if we could make high-quality products, deliver them in new ways, and represent the love that people have for the places where they grew up, live, and visit?

As soon as the plane landed, I called my wife and told her about the idea. And when I got home—before I even unpacked—I whipped out my laptop and began typing away at an idea that would one day become Black Pot.

Black Pot was born because I love visiting new places, but when I look for something cool to bring home, I’m inevitably disappointed. Sure, you can buy amazing, handmade wooden carvings in Kauai…and I have. But these are exceptions rather than the rule. The rule is cheesy souvenir tchotchkes with no connection to the place itself.

I started Black Pot to solve this problem. We make great products inspired by stories, not stores. We want to honor the spirit of places that stir an emotional connection in you, and we partner with locals to bring these places to life in our products and our content. We’re starting in Kauai, but we’re on a mission to build a global brand that people will love no matter where they live or explore. We’re starting with high-quality, Pima cotton tees—the finest cotton in the world. We’ll add more products as we grow, but we wanted to begin with something you can wear everyday, anyday.  

We named our brand Black Pot after my favorite place: Black Pot Beach, where the Hanalei River meets Hanalei Bay. Locals used to gather over a fresh catch cooked in a big black pot. Today, the beach remains a place of community and connection, where people come together to camp, fish, surf, and swim.

We have an opportunity to create something that similarly captures the magic of place. I hope you’ll join us. Welcome to Black Pot. I’m excited and I hope you are too.

Jesse