About Hammajang

Hammajang gif mouth squiggles around 

Hammajang: adj. / ham-muh-jang

  1. in a disorderly or shambolic state. 
  2. all messed up                                       

// Get one comb. My hair is all hammajang from surfing.

TL;DR

Hammajang is a Los Angeles based boardshort and apparel line for kids designed in, and inspired by L.A. with a little local Hawaiian culture mixed in. Hammajang is about embracing the mess of life in style.

The Long Version

Hammajang is a local Hawaiian (Pidgin) word meaning all messed up. Most of the time, “mess” is an inconvenience.   “Why did you mess that up?” “You messed me up.” “Your room is a mess!” Hammajang is founded on the belief that part of being a kid is embracing the mess. Mess means innocence. Mess means play. Mess means somewhere there was a kid who was trying something because they had an idea they needed to work out. 

Adults hate mess and are expected to be clean. Adults are experts at hiding the mess around and within themselves. “Cleanliness is a form of godliness” someone, who clearly had forgotten their childhood, once said. We disagree.

When I asked my husband, who grew up on Oahu speaking Pidgin, what he thought of when he heard “hammajang” he said: sand. “Sand was everywhere. In my hair, behind my ears, in my okole crack, constantly. I didn’t complain about it, nor did I really think about it, I just accepted it as a fact of life in order to have fun." This is a beautiful encapsulation of what hammajang means. 

Hammajang is about celebrating the beautiful mess children leave in their wake as they are off to their next adventure. It is about accepting the mess children can be when they are exhausted from a day spent in the sun and sand, having run themselves ragged in the shore break. Hammajang boardshorts and apparel are the clothes you play hard in, the clothes you make messes in. The mess means joy. The mess means memories.