Hawaiian Koa: Thalia's New Sustainability Mission

February 25, 2019 2 min read

Thalia Capos was founded when Thalia dreamed of making a capo that would complement the Hawaiian Koa in the Taylor Guitar held by Taylor Swift on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Not only that but Hawaiian Koa has always "secretly" been my favorite tonewood. It is a very diverse wood that can range from golden yellow to dark chocolate in color. It can also get so figured, curly and beautiful that it can force you to drop your jaw to the floor. I fell in love with Koa the first time I went to Hawaii and have been obsessed with it ever since.

Now what I also really love about Hawaiian Koa is that it can be sustainably grown and there are a multitude of projects well underway in Hawaii to reforest the islands with the this amazing tonewood. We have embarked on an exciting plan that we will be explaining in more detail over the coming months.

But here is what I can tell you now about what we have planned...

We have decided to take on a new mission as it relates to Hawaiian Koa and sustainability. Our mission is to play a meaningful role in the reforestation of Koa in Hawaii over the coming decade while also promoting the use of sustainably grown Hawaiian Koa from 2nd & 3rd growth forests.

We plan to do this through a number of initiatives that we will reveal over the coming months! To kickoff this effort, we are doing a promotion using some absolutely amazing Hawaiian Koa that we have recently acquired from the Big Island. This wood is super curly and has just unbelievable figuring.

We are currently offering this super premium wood at a discounted price to celebrate the launch of our new mission. We are also making a commitment as it relates to all Hawaiian Koa products made by Thalia going forward.

All Hawaiian Koa products made by Thalia now come with our Hawaiian Koa Reforestation Commitment. $5 from the sale of each Capo or Phone Case goes directly towards planting and maintaining new Koa trees in Hawaii.

While all of the woods and shell on our site are sourced from ethical vendors who have sustainability policies in place, with Hawaiian Koa we are going a step further. For Hawaiian Koa we will directly source our wood in Hawaii, ensuring chain of custody of the salvaged logs. These logs will then be sliced into veneer per our specifications. Next, we will be actively involved in the planting and maintaining of new royal koa trees in Hawaii on the same islands where our wood originates.

Here is the new AAA Curly Hawaiian Koa in our new products.

Hawaiian Koa Initiative

All Hawaiian Koa products made by Thalia come with our Hawaiian Koa Reforestation Commitment. $5 from the sale of each Capo or Phone Case goes directly towards planting and maintaining new Koa trees in Hawaii.

While all of the woods and shell on our site are sourced from ethical vendors who have sustainability policies in place, we want to go further. For Hawaiian Koa we are taking a more active position by directly sourcing our wood in Hawaii, ensuring chain of custody of the salvaged logs. These logs are then sliced into veneer per our specifications. Next, we are actively involved in the planting and maintaining of new royal koa trees in Hawaii on the same islands where our wood originates. This full circle approach ensures that we will be able to achieve our goal of being a significant participant in the reforestation of Hawaii while also producing 100 times more koa wood for the musical instrument industry than we consume over the next decade.

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Hawaiian Koa: Thalia's New Sustainability Mission

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Hawaiian Koa Initiative