A paniolo is a Hawaiian cowboy. Our inspiration for this shirt celebrates the synergies of Hawaiian and Wyoming cultures, and the story of three paniolo cousins who entered the 1908 Frontier Days Rodeo in Cheyenne as unknowns—and came out heroes.
True Grit
Rodeo virtuosos Ikua Purdy, Jack Low, and Archie Ka’au’a—with their Papale hats adorned with hibiscus flowers—astonished the country & rough-knuckled frontier in 1908 in an adventure that upended the conventional history of the American West.
Aloha Rodeo
The story of these three brave paniolos' 4,200-mile journey from Hawaii to Wyoming is eloquently told in Aloha Rodeo—written by David Wolman & Julian Smith. For a limited time, we're including this best-selling book free with the purchase of our Paniolo Shirt—so you can revel in the drama of this historic moment in time.
Paniolo Shirt
Aloha Friends!
First of all, we want to say how delighted we were to hear from the 3BIRD crew. They’re doing the gutsy work of building a quality brand from the ground up, so hats off to them. When the team told us a little more about their Paniolo Shirt—the care they put into design, plans for a book giveaway, highlighting the bond between Wyoming and Hawaii—I mean, what’s not cool about this idea?
Before discovering this story, we, like many people, had never heard of Hawaiian cowboys or the legacy of ranching in the Pacific. Curiosity about that history, and especially the events leading up to and including the 1908 Cheyenne Frontier Days, inspired us to write Aloha Rodeo.
People here in Hawaii had heard the general contours of that story before, for generations even. But no one had ever dug in to try and tell the whole story. There’s no such thing as the whole story, of course, but we did our damndest to research and write up these events as accurately and elegantly as possible. We hope you enjoy the retelling, and in the process learn a few new things about that Hawaii and the American West.
— David & Julian
