Paradise on a Hanger is found on a 360-acre ranch, adjacent to a National Forest, situated outside Crawford, Colorado (population: 220 people and 7,000 cows). The company's owners, Steve and Curielle Duffy, cheerfully admit that selling Aloha Shirts from an obscure site in the Rocky Mountains is either a challenge, or insane.

So, whatever possessed them to try? From behind his full bronze beard, Steve Duffy grins and tells the story of a small, kitchen-table enterprise that started with a personal passion and "just grew." Duffy always loved Aloha Shirts. As a kid in the 1960s, he eagerly sought them in mainland thrift stores, but had trouble finding his size (double extra large). So later, when he was married to the multi-talented Curielle Duffy, she started making shirts for him out of their kitchen.

Duffy loved the results. So did friends and neighbors, who asked Curielle to make Aloha Shirts for them, too. A marketer at heart, Duffy suggested that Curielle sew up several more shirts so he could take them to the Boulder Arts Fair.She did. The results -- unusually fun, colorful shirts -- met with overwhelming acceptance. Paradise on a Hanger was born in 1990, soon after the Duffys' first child, with the idea that the couple could be stay-at-home working parents. Sales were handled through a splashy mail-order catalog. In the early days, every time a sale happened, someone would strike a small steel triangle to ring another victory chime.

The Duffys' enthusiasm for Aloha shirts goes beyond that of your normal surf shop owner or buyer. They care about the origins of the textiles. They care about the designs. They care about the artists behind the designs, and the culture behind the artists. In fact, when the Duffys first began commissioning fine artists to create their designs, they traveled to their studios and homes to meet those artists and the artists' families personally, gaining better understanding of the art and inspiration behind the shirts.

Today, Paradise on a Hanger runs America's largest mail-order catalog operation for Hawaiian Shirts. Four 30-page catalogs are produced yearly. The company's website attracts thousands of visitors each week.

The shirt designs, as you can see from the accompanying photos, speak for themselves. Paradise on a Hanger carries many brands including their own line. Other top of the line labels include Iolani, Kahala, Reyn's, Tori Richard, Paradise Found, Go Barefoot and Avanti. "We define our customers, the Hawaiian Shirt Kinda Guy, as cool and rebellious in nature," says Duffy. "The shirt represents attitude -- wild, sometimes loud, but always casual. The person who wears a Hawaiian shirt cares more about comfort than societal norms."

Beyond its delightful merchandise, another key factor in the popularity of Paradise on a Hanger is the personal touch. In the quarterly catalogs, readers find friendly notes and photos from Steve Duffy, from members of his family, and even from other customers, as they all share stories of their world travels and Aloha Shirt tales. Not just a purveyor of clothing, Paradise on a Hanger is the basis for a communal society of fans of Hawaiian Shirts. Duffy also encourages the staff to treat telephone customers with Aloha. (Indeed, the staff is so warm and personal that over the years, several gentlemen customers have proposed marriage, sight unseen, to the gals who work the phones.)

Although its products are classically Hawaiian, Paradise on a Hanger is truly integrated into the Colorado wilderness - and not just because the company now employs plenty of family and friends from nearby Crawford. From the start, the Duffys planned to use proceeds from clothing sales to finance a non-profit wilderness camp for kids. That dream is now a reality known as Camp Rock: an outdoor, educationally-focused youth camp, located on the family ranch. Activities include team-and-esteem building on a ropes course; rock climbing (on a climbing wall and in the wilderness); hiking and horseback riding in the West Elk range; bird, butterfly and wildflower identification; and catch-and-release fly fishing. Evenings with adult counselors around the campfire bring time for lessons, reflections, and fellowship.