Our Story
Feel the Love. Love the Feel.
Back in the late 1980’s, I was blessed by the birth of the world’s cutest baby. I knew I had to be a “stay-at-home-mom”, to be there for all her little moments. I was young, energetic, blissfully naïve and her daddy was very supportive.
Fortunately, my wise and talented mom had taught me to sew. As a child, I was in awe of the transformations that happened in her little sewing nook. I grew up on Maui wearing mom’s creations until I began making my own. She patiently taught me how to imagine and then to materialize.
Living in Hawaii, I had access to a rich tradition of textile design. Hawaiian/aloha prints are everywhere. My primary interest being the world’s cutest baby, I decide to use aloha prints to create baby clothes and COOKIES Maui was born. Titled from my maiden name - Cook.
I was on a roll, creating crazy cute kids' clothes which I wholesaled to local boutiques.
Fast forward to 1991, the second world’s cutest baby was born. Our son. Still committed to being the more realistically described “WORK-at-home-mom”, I struggled to juggle my growing business with my growing family. It became very clear very quickly that I needed to put the business on hold.
In the late 1990’s. Third cutest and very mellow baby is underfoot. I've got the hang of it. Older two are in school and I’m ready to create again. Serendipity put some t-shirts in one hand and my old COOKIES patterns in the other and BAM!… the new generation of COOKIES was born. T-shirts replaced Hawaiian prints as my raw material. It was so exciting. Everything "Hawaii" that I loved about the aloha prints was available in the world’s most comfy fabric.
The new generation of COOKIES was born out of a simple desire to make great stuff out of existing stuff. Think recycling. I like to call it "up-cycling". All of our designs are now made from T-shirts sourced right here in the Hawaiian Islands, minimizing our carbon footprint.
We support local charities by buying our t-shirts from their fundraisers. Please contact us if your organization would be interested in a fundraising opportunity.
Here we are in 2020, rebranded as KOOKIES Maui to express our playfulness and the fact that we don’t actually sell cookies. All of our products are still designed and sewn with care in our Maui North Shore studio with a recent upgrade… we are totally solar powered. Another exciting addition is our new adult line.
Here is an especially great part: the afore-mentioned world’s cutest baby #1 is now designing, sewing and marketing in our growing business. The reason… she is committed to being a “WORK-at-home-mom”, to be there for my grandbabies’ little moments.
You’ll feel good in, and feel good about, KOOKIES Maui.
