Roots

Roots in the Caribbean means the same thing as everywhere else- it's your origins; your heritage. "Roots, mon," is a big thing. Our HIHO roots go back to growing up on Tortola where our friends and I spent all our time on or near the water. By the time we were 11 years old we all owned Sunflish and spent days weaving amongst the boats in Road Harbour, and ducking into the nearby bays. As we got older we'd cross the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Peter Island. Then, when we were teens, we discovered windsurfing and the love affair with the sea widened. After school I spent plenty of time wavesailing in Maui and traveling to Japan and Europe to race on the World Cup. But it was my roots which always grounded me. My fellow racer Brian Talma from Barbados and I used to always agree that while it was fun in Lake Garda, or The Gorge, home was the Caribbean, and home we would one day go because here is where the people are nicer, the air is sweeter and the sailing & surfing is the best.

Eleven days to go until this year's Highland Spring HIHO event. This is the genesis of our brand of clothing. It's a simple story- We took over this cool event in 1993 and a clothing business grew from the T-shirt we offered participants and sold in my mothers store in Road Town. Fifteen years later we own and run the HIHO brand of clothing. Our line is 100% Caribbean- and I mean the line of clothing and our "line", as in our "tagline". Cool clothing; cool story.