UNCW student starts small business to help the less fortunate

UNCW+student+starts+small+business+to+help+the+less+fortunate

UNCW student starts small business to help the less fortunate

Dylan Elliott | Contributing Writer

“Buy a hat, feed 5 hungry children,” that is the pledge of Kapena Kai. Kapena Kai is a local hat maker started by a UNC Wilmington senior who has a love for the outdoors and ambitions to spread love in a world filled with chaos.

Michael Hayes, better known as “Mikey,” is an oceanography major from Kure Beach and the founder of Kapena Kai. Under his leadership, Kapena Kai has fed 1,200 children in India’s Kolkata region and sold over 100 hats, something not many college seniors can put on their résumé.

“Kapena Kai has been profitable, not enough to pay for tuition yet, but it’s been profitable,” said Hayes. “I think things will begin to pickup the more people hear about what we’re doing.” 

For a 22-year-old small business operator and humanitarian with a height of 6’4’’, Mikey is an unimposing guy.  When he’s not studying, working on Kapena Kai or spreading love to the unfortunate, he can be found by the water, surfing right along with dozens of other UNCW students.

“I like the South End, right in front of South End Surf shop,” Said Hayes. “Sometimes my friends and I ride our boat out to Masonboro, good waves out there.”

Kapena Kai sells their hats for $26 a piece. They take a portion of their profits and give it to their partners, The Refinery Church, a non-denominational church located at 3834, Oleander Drive, behind Whole Foods.

 The Church has a connection with a group in Calcutta, India, where the money is used to buy ludicrously cheap bananas, made cheap because India is the worlds’ largest exporter of the fruit. Each hat buys five bananas and feeds about five children.

Hayes started his outdoor surfing and hiking brand Kapena Kai, meaning “Captain of the Sea,” not long after returning from a trip in Hawaii, where Hayes says his Hawaiian relatives taught him the true meaning of Aloha.

“Aloha means hello and good by but it also means love,” Said Hayes. “That’s what we want to do. Just love people.”

Like other manufacturers, Kapena Kai has factories overseas with one factory in Vietnam and another in china. It is very important to Hayes that Kapena Kai’s factories are safe, clean and fair. They make their factories sign a contract Ensuring that they are not to use child labor, do not allow harassment, and provide fair wages to all workers.

“A lot of people are worried about factories in other countries, because the previous scandals, so that’s very important to me, that my factory is inspected every year to make sure those things aren’t happening,” said Hayes.

Kapena Kai Hats can be bought online on their website, kapenakai.com, or at a few local retailers including: Sweetwater surf shop, Carolina Beach Surf Shop, Aussie Island Surf Shop and South End Surf Shop. 

Kapena Kai hats come in ever color a customer could want, as long as it’s blue. They do have plans in place to branch out into different products like shoes and T-shirts. Nevertheless, quality is important to Hayes.

“Do you know how many factories Brixton owns? Zero. Do you know how many factories Patagonia owns? Zero. Nike owns Zero. These big companies don’t own any factories. They hire people to make their goods, the factory I use also makes hats similar to Braxton hats, so the quality is there.”  Said Hayes.

In the future Hayes has plans to attend the university of Hawaii at Manoa, and has big goals with Kapena Kai.

 “In the future I hope to be connected with more than just the school in India, a huge goal I have is to feed 1 million children,” said Hayes. “That’s a big goal in five years I think that might be more of a 10-year goal, but who knows. In five years I could feed a million kids, that would be amazing.”

Kapena Kai will be holding a fundraiser this Saturday, November 12, at Annex Surf Supply in Wrightsville Beach. The event will allow attendees to meet the activists behind the company, as well as find out how they feed five children with every cap purchased. The company is also using this fundraiser as an opportunity to spread awareness about beach cleanups within the local community, helping the local homeless community, and striving to inspire others to spread aloha. Free food will be provided, and the event is being held from 11 a.m. -2 p.m.