Aloha shirt history

Hawaiian shirts' colorful history (author unknown)

March 23rd, 2010

If you’re a true-blue surfer, chances are that an Aloha shirt or three are lurking in your closet – the next time you plan to wear your bright, tropical Hawaiian gem, spare a thought for this article of clothing’s colorful history…which you may not have been aware of…

Hawaiian shirts were popular long before Elvis Presley wore a red aloha shirt on the album cover for the “Blue Hawaii” soundtrack in 1961. In fact, the modern Hawaiian shirt came about in the early 1930s.

A Chinese merchant named Ellery Chun of King-Smith Clothiers and Dry Goods, owned a store in Waikiki. Ellery started to sew brightly colored aloha shirts for tourists fashioned from old kimono fabrics he had leftover in stock.

The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper was quick to coin them by the term ‘Aloha shirt’ and Ellery trademarked the name. The first ad in the Honolulu Advertiser for Chun’s Hawaiian shirts was published in June 1935. Local residents and as you’d expect…especially those in the surfing community, as well as tourists descended on Chun’s store and bought every shirt he had.

Within just a few years, major designer labels opened all over Hawaii and began to manufacture and sell Aloha shirts en masse. Retail chains in Hawaii, even mass produced Hawaiian shirt designs to use as their employee uniforms. At sites like Hawaiian Shirts Central you’ll see some of the best examples of shirt Hawaiian and apparel.

After World War II, many servicemen and servicewomen returned to the United States from Asia and the Pacific islands with aloha shirts that had been made in Hawaii since the 1930s. Then as the tourists started flocking to Hawaii post WW2 in the 1950s, the colorful tropical-print shirts for men and sundresses for women became standard souvenirs for travelers.

In 1962, a professional manufacturing association known as the Hawaiian Fashion Guild began to promote Hawaiian shirts and clothing for use in the workplace, particularly as business attire. In a campaign very aptly called 'Operation Liberation' the Guild delivered two aloha shirts to every member of the Hawaii House of Representatives and the Hawaii Senate. This was a success because a resolution was soon passed in the Senate advising that aloha attire (essentially Hawaiian shirts) be worn throughout the summer in Hawaii.

In 1965, Bill Foster, Sr., the then president of the Hawaii Fashion Guild, led a campaign lobbying for an official and regular “Aloha Friday”, a day when all employers would allow their staff to wear Hawaiian shirts on the last business day of the week. In 1966 Aloha Friday officially began in Hawaii and has since spread worldwide – although now-a-days it is commonly referred to as ‘Casual Friday’.

chai am woman: oh happy (fri)day

chai am woman: oh happy (fri)day

Aloha Shirts and the vacated island

I found a great article for fifty fun facts about Hawaii at a Seattle paper (link), it mentions Kahoolawe as having the color gray as its official color, and that gray does not appear on Aloha shirts (beg to differ).

It got me to wondering about some of the other Hawaiian islands, the ones you can't or won't visit.

Kahoolawe is Hawaiian for "the one that was taken away". It is all of 45 square miles of desert sitting in Maui's rainshadow surrounded by the Pacific. It is presently uninhabited, is reserved as a site for the preservation of native Hawaiian culture and was used as target practice by the US Navy (and its allies) for decades. You may be able to volunteer to do work on Kahoolawe as part of the restoration project.

Then there is Niihau, off the west coast of Kauai. It is privately owned and its shores are vigilantly guarded. Landings are unwelcome.

Molokini is offshore south and east of Lahaina harbor on Maui. It is a partially sunken volcanic cone, and the crater is tipped so that it is full of water. It is a top diving spot, but going ashore is a criminal offense.

Nihoa is an island about the size of a football stadium about 120 miles north and west of Honolulu. It is uninhabited, is covered with archaeological sites, and has some species such as the Nihoa finch that exist only there. Landings are by state permissions only, and protection against biological contaminations are vigorously enforced and extreme. For example, no cardboard. It sometimes contains worm eggs of a sort that may violate the existing Nihoa environment.

Lehua island, located north of Niihau is another island you will probably not only never see, but never set foot on. It is a seabird nesting reserve. It is a sunken volcanic caldera like Molokini.

Kaula lies about 23 miles west and north of Niihau, and is a semicircular cliff edged island. It is about 160 acres, was used for target practice like Kahoolawe (and Molokai for that matter), and is considered sacred. No landings.

Manana is a 63 acre island off the coast of Oahu (also called Rabbit Island) and is also a seabird sanctuary. No landings.

Na Molulua are two islands off the coast of Oahu you can set foot on. Just a short kayak trip through the home of sharks and you're there.

Mokolii off the coast of Oahu is known as "Chinaman's Hat Island" due to its upswept shape. Open to the public dawn to dusk, all 12.5 acres of it.