The Hawaiian shirt is a style of camp shirt featuring brightly printed island themed fabrics. In the islands, they are called Aloha shirts, and are short sleeved, collared and are usually buttoned up in front. There is usually a left chest pocket carefully sewn in to match the background fabric. . Ours have buttons made from genuine coconut shells. They may be worn by men or women
What distinguishes the Aloha shirt from others styles are the beautifully printed fabrics that are used in their production. Designs include traditional floral patterns and Polynesian motifs as well as modern variations that might include full island scenes or automotive themes made popular by textile designers in Calfornia
Since island living tends to be more casual, Hawaiian shirts manufactured for everyday wear in Hawaii are considered formal wear in business and government
History
Remembering the clothing made for him by his mother when he was a child, Waikiki merchant Ellery Chun made the first commercially produced Hawaiian shirts in the early 1930’s. Chun started by sewing sewing brightly colored shirts for out of old kimono fabrics he had leftover. They were quickly snapped up by local residents, surfers, tourists, and military personnel from the mainland. The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper was the first to use the term Aloha shirt to describe Chun's creation. Soon, many other companies started producing their own shirts from fabric remnants imported from Kyoto and Osaka. Popular fabrics were cotton yukata and the popular rayon Kabe Crepe and Fujiettes. Silk fabrics were also used. In the late 50’s polyester fabrics started to make some inroads. We use the traditional rayon and cotton exclusively.
It quickly became apparent that using remnants as a fabric source would not be sufficient to meet the demand, so Honolulu based designers traveled to Japan to source Yukata fabric and create their own island style designs. Some mills on the US mainland also got into the business. In an effort to cut the long lead times, several fabric printing companies started production directly on Oahu, however the Japanese were always the main source for the printed fabrics due to their high quality and reasonable pricing.
We make our apparel using the traditional rayon and cotton fabrics and offer a mix of traditional and modern motifs.
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