Our Story
Made with Love & Aloha
Live Aloha Designs started with a decade of designing shoes for other people's brands and a pull back to the ocean that wouldn't let go.
A decade in design, a lifetime pulled to the sea
Ashley Personeni spent ten years designing footwear for national retailers on the mainland, learning the discipline of fit, material, and craftsmanship that still shapes every piece she makes today.
But something kept calling her back to the water. In 2015, that pull became a decision: leave the corporate design world behind and build something of her own, rooted in the place that raised her.
A mermaid from Lanikai
Lanikai sits on the east side of Oahu, its beach facing the Mokulua islands just offshore, the kind of place that reorders your priorities the moment you see it. Live Aloha Designs was born there in 2015, built on a simple belief: that aloha isn't a word you put on a sticker; it's a way of moving through the world that honors the ocean, the tradition, and the people who love this place as much as she does.
Aloha isn't a slogan
"It's a way of moving through the world, how you treat the ocean, how you treat people, how you show up. That's what I wanted this brand to carry, no matter how far it got from Lanikai."