The aloha shirt (Hawaiian: palaka aloha),[1] also referred to as a Hawaiian shirt, is a style of dress shirt originating in Hawaii. They are collared and buttoned dress shirts, usually short-sleeved and made from printed fabric. They are traditionally worn untucked, but can be worn tucked into the waist of trousers. They are worn casually or as informal business attire in Hawaii.
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"Aloha Friday", or Casual Friday, a now-common tradition of celebrating the end of the workweek by wearing more casual attire on Fridays, initially grew out of an effort to promote aloha shirts.[2]
Aloha dress shirts are printed, mostly short-sleeved, and collared. They almost always have buttons, sometimes for the entire length of the shirt or at least up to the chest. They usually have a left chest pocket sewn in, often with attention to ensure the printed pattern remains continuous. Aloha shirts may be worn by men or women. Women's aloha shirts usually have a lower-cut, v-neck style.
The lower hems are straight,[3] and the shirts are often worn with the shirt-tails hanging out, rather than tucked in. Wearing an untucked shirt was possibly influenced by the local Filipinos who wore shirt-tail out, and called these bayau meaning "friend".[5][6][a] Wearing it untucked or tucked depends on personal taste; it carries the same connotations of tucking or untucking a polo shirt. In the s, the shirt became allowed as business attire for aloha week, but only if worn tucked in.[8]
Traditional men's aloha shirts are usually adorned with traditional Hawaiian quilt designs, tapa designs, and simple floral patterns in more muted colors. Contemporary aloha shirts may have prints that do not feature any traditional Hawaiian quilt or floral designs but instead may incorporate drinks, palm trees, surf boards or other island tropical elements in a similar form as the traditional aloha shirt.[10]
It has been observed that locals (kamaʻāina) tended to shy away from the garishness of aloha shirts as "too wild" when they first appeared,[11] whereas tourists embraced wearing designs of many bright colors.[6] An example of the type of shirt the locals may prefer includes the "reverse print"; these shirts are often printed on the interior, resulting in the muted color on the exterior.[citation needed]
According to some sources, the origin of aloha shirts can be traced to the s or the early s,[13] when the Honolulu-based dry goods store "Musa-Shiya the Shirtmaker" under the proprietorship of Kōichirō Miyamoto,[13] started making shirts out of colorful Japanese prints.[b][13] It has also been contended that the aloha shirt was devised in the early s by Chinese merchant Ellery Chun of "King-Smith Clothiers and Dry Goods", a store in Waikiki.[15] Although this claim has been described as a myth reinforced by repeated telling,[17] Chun may have been the first to mass-produce[7] or to maintain the ready-to-wear in stock to be sold off the shelf.[4][5]
The name "aloha shirt" appeared later. By and , the word aloha was being attached to various sorts of Hawaiian products, so calling the garments "aloha shirts" was hardly original. The term aloha shirt first appeared in print in an advertisement for Musa-Shiya in the June 28, issue of The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper.[18] However, Ellery Chun is sometimes credited for coining the term,[19] perhaps in ;[20] Chun's store reportedly carried window signs that said "aloha shirts".[7][21] The term "aloha sportswear" was registered as a trademark by Chun's company in ,[4] followed by Chun trademarking "Aloha Shirt" in and owning the rights to this appellation for the next 20 years.
Within years, major designer labels sprang up all over Hawaii and began manufacturing and selling aloha shirts en masse. By the end of the s, 450 people were employed in an industry worth $600,000 annually.[23] Two notable manufacturers of this period are Kamehameha and Branfleet (later Kahala), both founded in .[6] Retail chains in Hawaii, including some based on the mainland, may mass-produce a single aloha shirt design for employee uniforms.
After World War II, many servicemen and servicewomen returned to the United States from Asia and the Pacific islands with aloha shirts made in Hawaii since the s.[25] One significant manufacturer was Shaheen, which began business in .[6] Following Hawaii's statehood in , when extant tropical prints came to be regarded as rather tacky, designer Alfred Shaheen became noted for producing aloha shirts of higher chic and quality, and Elvis Presley wore a Shaheen-designed red aloha on the album cover for Blue Hawaii ().[25][26] In , Tori Richard, a well-known brand of alohas was established.[27][28] Spooner's of Waikiki, precursor of Reyn Spooner, also established business in .[29]
Garments manufactured in Hawaii could bear "Made in Hawaii" labels before statehood (), and even afterwards, their sales to mainland United States continued to be referred to as "exports".[30]
Aloha shirts tend to be referred to as "Hawaiian shirts" by the populace from the mainland United States,[6] and are often brilliantly colored with floral patterns or generic Polynesian motifs.[citation needed]
The aloha shirt is currently[when?] the premier textile export of the Hawaii manufacturing industry.[citation needed]
In , the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce funded a study of aloha shirts and designs for comfortable business clothing worn during the hot Hawaiian summers. The City and County of Honolulu passed a resolution allowing their employees to wear sport shirts from June'October. City employees were not allowed to wear aloha shirts for business until the creation of the Aloha Week festival in . The Aloha Week festival was motivated by both cultural and economic concerns: First held at Ala Moana Park in October, the festival revived interest in ancient Hawaiian music, dancing, sports, and traditions. There was a holoku ball, a floral parade, and a makahiki festival attended by 8,000 people. Economically, the week-long event first attracted visitors during October ' traditionally a slow month for tourism ' which benefited the Hawaiian fashion industry as they supplied the muʻumuʻu and aloha shirts worn for the celebration. Aloha Week expanded in to six islands, and was lengthened to a month. In , Aloha Week was renamed to Aloha Festivals.[32]
In the end, Aloha Week had a direct influence on the resulting demand for alohawear, and was responsible for supporting local clothing manufacturing: locals needed the clothing for the festivals, and soon people in Hawaii began wearing the clothing in greater numbers on more of a daily basis. Hawaii's fashion industry was relieved, as they were initially worried that popular clothing from the mainland United States would eventually replace aloha attire.
In , a professional manufacturing association known as the Hawaiian Fashion Guild began to promote aloha shirts and clothing for use in the workplace, particularly as business attire. In a campaign called "Operation Liberation", the Guild distributed two aloha shirts to every member of the Hawaii House of Representatives and the Hawaii Senate. Subsequently, a resolution passed in the Senate recommending aloha attire be worn throughout the summer, beginning on Lei Day. The wording of the resolution spoke of letting "the male populace return to 'aloha attire' during the summer months for the sake of comfort and in support of the 50th state's garment industry".
In , Bill Foster Sr., president of the Hawaii Fashion Guild, led the organization in a campaign lobbying for "Aloha Friday", a day employers would allow men to wear aloha shirts on the last business day of the week a few months out of the year. Aloha Friday officially began in ,[36] and young adults of the s embraced the style, replacing the formal business wear favored by previous generations. By , aloha wear had gained acceptance in Hawaii as business attire for any day of the week. Unlike the court dress required in most jurisdictions, attorneys in Hawaii may be allowed to wear aloha shirts in court, though this varies among individual courts.[37]
Hawaii's custom of Aloha Friday slowly spread east to California, continuing around the globe until the s, when it became known as Casual Friday. Today in Hawaii, alohawear is worn as business attire for any day of the week,[21] and "Aloha Friday" is generally used to refer to the last day of the work week. Now considered Hawaii's term for "Thank God It's Friday" (TGIF),[38] the phrase was used by Kimo Kahoano and Paul Natto in their song, "It's Aloha Friday, No Work 'til Monday",[39] heard every Friday on Hawaii radio stations across the state.[citation needed]
The related concept of "aloha attire" stems from the aloha shirt. Semi-formal functions such as weddings, birthday parties, and dinners are often designated as "aloha attire", meaning that men wear aloha shirts and women wear muumuu or other tropical prints. Because Hawaii tends to be more casual, it is rarely appropriate to attend such functions in full evening wear like on the mainland;[40] instead, aloha attire is seen as a happy medium between excessive formality and casual wear (i.e., business casual).
The Hawaiian shirt (more commonly referred to as an "Aloha shirt" in Hawaii) is an international symbol of Hawaii that has come to be recognized around the world. What began as a simple floral print shirt has taken on a life of its own, evolving over the decades to what we recognize today as the Hawaiian shirt. From its humble beginnings in the s, Hawaiian shirt trends have evolved just like other fashion trends. There are several types of Hawaiian shirts as well as other Hawaiian clothing. Here are some interesting facts you might not know about the history of Aloha shirts from Aloha FunWear, your very own Hawaiian shirt Wiki.
EARLY HAWAIIAN WEAR
Before the arrival of woven fabrics from China, Japan and the West, native Hawaiians created their clothing from native plants and trees. Men wore a malo, or loin cloth, made of tapa cloth, which was fabricated from the inner bark of wauke trees. As you can imagine, that type of material had a much different look and feel than the rayon or cotton that modern Hawaiian shirts are usually made of. Traditional Hawaiian women wore a skirt called a pa`u, which looked like a hula skirt. We still see representations of this type of skirt today in novelty stores or at Hawaiian luaus.
A TAPA FOR ALL OCCASIONS
Tapa material was tough, durable and versatile. It was great for clothing and made an excellent floor covering. Because it was made from plants and had a relatively flat surface, it was also easy to decorate. Throughout Polynesia, tapa cloth was the artist's canvas and people hand-painted their tapa creations with beautiful colors and exquisite designs, drawing inspiration from the world around them. Plant life, particularly tropical flowers and lush green leaves, were commonly represented in tapa cloth. The brilliant, colored patterns on today's Hawaiian shirts and dresses find their roots in these wonderful Polynesian tapa prints.
THE EVER POPULAR PALAKA SHIRT
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Hawaiian Islands emerged as a powerful plantation economy that produced sugar, pineapple and coffee for export around the world. Plantation workers needed a rugged shirt that was suitable for hard labor in the fieldsand the hot, often unpredictable weather of Hawaii. Within a generation, the checkered blue and white denim palaka became the standard work shirt of Hawaii. By the early s,the palaka Hawaiian shirts and blue denim trousers called sailor-mokus originally donned by field workers had almost become the official national costume of Hawaii both on and off the plantation.
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FROM KIMONO TO ONO
In the early days of fashion, shirts were tailored by hand. This could take place either in the home or at custom tailor shops. These shops quickly sprung up all over the islands, particularly in plantation towns and throughout Honolulu. Dry goods stores supplied newly available fabrics from around the world, including printed silk from Japan, raw silk, batik and rayon from the U.S. mainland and cotton cloth made for kimonos and yukatas. Asian immigrants had long played a role in Hawaiian history, and fashion styles reflected this. Short- and long-sleeved shirts and women's dresses were based on Asian garment designs and made from pre-printed fabrics from China and Japan. These colorful shirts and dresses were the direct ancestors of modern Aloha wear. Here in the islands we say "ono" to mean deliciously cool.
FIRST REAL HAWAIIAN DESIGNS
It wasn't until the mid-s that Hawaiian clothing manufacturers decided to produce cloth that was uniquely Hawaiian in design. Watumull's East India Store led the way by commissioning artist Elsie Das to create fifteen floral designs, leading the way to what we now recognize as a Hawaiian print. Her beautiful hand-painted designs were sent to Japan where they were printed by hand onto raw silk and turned into clothing.
SATIN MISTAKES AND HOLLYWOOD DREAMS
According to Hawaiian fabric designer Elsie Das, a Japanese manufacturer once printed a set of her floral designs on heavy satin by mistake. "These started a vogue in Hollywood. Ginger Rogers, Janet Gaynor and other stars bought bolts of the stuff and had it made into 'seductive gowns.' The result was an epidemic of Hawaiian designs, with hibiscus and ginger breaking out on table cloths, napkins and scarves all over the country." "Elsie Das, Artist Designer," an article by William Davenport in Paradise of the Pacific, p 9, .
THE "FIRST" ALOHA SHIRT
The term "Aloha shirt" may have started as street slang in the early s to describe the growing number of shirts featuring Oriental and Hawaiian designs that were being produced by Honolulu tailors. Musa-Shiya, the Shirtmaker first advertised the "Aloha shirt" in the Honolulu Advertiser on June 28, : "Honolulu's Noted Shirt Maker and Kimono Shop. 'Aloha' shirts - well tailored, beautiful designs and radiant colors. Ready-made or made to order 95 cents up." By another account, an advertising salesperson from the Honolulu Advertiser and Ellery Chun, the owner of the King-Smith dry goods store, first coined the term "Aloha shirt." In fact, Mr. Chun officially registered a trademark for his Aloha sportswear on July 15, .
HAWAIIAN SHIRTS IN HOLLYWOOD
Like all great trends, Hollywood had to get involved. Movie stars, crooners and politicians did a fine job of promoting Hawaiian clothing, bringing the colorful designs into the mainstream. Montgomery Cliff Burt Lancaster, Ernest Borgnine and Frank Sinatra all wore beautiful Hawaiian shirts in the movie From Here to Eternity. Ginger Rogers wore seductive satin gowns of Hawaiian designs while Bing Crosby sported his unique combination of Hawaiian shirt and porkpie hat. And Betty Grable did a promo pin-up shot wearing a gorgeous Hawaiian-style swimsuit in the s. In the s, Tom Selleck often wore the signature "Magnum P.I." Hawaiian shirt, which is now in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Other stars and cultural icons like Elvis Presley and Jimmy Buffet also helped to propel Hawaiian shirts into mainstream fashion.
BORDER HAWAIIAN SHIRTS
Border Hawaiian shirts had a special degree of symmetry that made them particularly attractive. By modern standards, border Hawaiian shirts were a luxury because so much fabric was wasted in making them. The shirts featured wonderful designs that were so well thought-out that sleeves, sides and hems were identical. Pockets sometimes matched the shirt pattern perfectly. And some designs never repeated themselves on the same shirt. Border Hawaiian shirts tended to be longer to show off the fabric images (why you should not tuck in a bottom design shirt). The same tailoring approach was used to create beautiful sundresses. The border shirt is very similar to the engineered print Hawaiian shirt with the only difference being that the engineered shirts' images are even wider, often stretching from seam to seam.
MUUMUUS AND TEA-TIMERS
The Hawaiian muumuu started out as a loose-fitting dress designed for women of all sizes. It was the result of missionaries who sought to cover the bodies of Hawaiian women, who traditionally wore nothing more than a skirt. Muumuus were easy to make and fit a wide range of wearers, making them ideal for giving away to the islands'natives. They soon became a part of Hawaiian history and labeled a traditional garment. As the muumuu morphed and mixed with traditional Asian designs, a unique series of women's garments emerged.
For informal entertaining, the pake muu featured long, wing-like sleeves based on a Chinese design. The popular tea-timer was a tight-fitting, tailored sleeveless top with a short mandarin collar. The holomu was a fitted garment for more formal evening wear while the holoku was a full-length dress for formal affairs. Over the years, women's Hawaiian clothing has tended to feature floral designs: ginger blossoms, plumeria, hibiscus, orchids and birds-of-paradise.The designs used on women's clothing often matches the prints used in Aloha shirts.
CASUAL DAY FINDS ITS ROOTS IN HONOLULU
In , the Honolulu Board of Supervisors passed a resolution whereby City and County employees were allowed'actually, they were encouraged'to wear Hawaiian shirts from June 1 to October 31 each year to beat the summer heat and promote Hawaiian pride. This single act by a local government has had a powerful influence on businesses and civil servant departments around the world, especially where summers are unbearably hot. Today, many corners of the globe adopt more casual clothing styles for hot weather. The tradition of 'casual Friday' stems from this simple Hawaiian practice.
ALOHA FRIDAY
In Hawaii, every Friday is Aloha Friday. It's the day when you wear your favorite Aloha dress or Aloha shirt with pride. On each and every Friday, downtown Honolulu is a sea of Aloha wear, especially at lunch time when you can sometimes catch a free concert in the plaza at the corner of King and Bishop streets. Hawaii's Aloha spirit can be found in many business offices. Companies that offer a "casual" day on Fridays need only look to the Aloha State for the source of this wonderful tradition.
ALOHA WEEK
The first annual Aloha Week festival was held in . By 's celebration, the local residents were enthusiastically wearing Hawaiian shirts and dresses to help promote local products. The Hawaiian shirt soon became a symbol of Hawaiian industry and pride. Even today, after more than 50 years, Aloha Week is still going strong throughout the islands. It's a great excuse to dress up in your favorite Aloha wear, enjoy "ono Hawaiian kine grinds" (local cuisine), and immerse yourself in the music and arts of the islands.
CRUISIN'
Among several luxury cruise ship companies that promoted travel to exotic Hawaii, the Matson Line commissioned artists to create enchanting Hawaiian images for use as menu covers. Some of these distinctive images were used for fabric designs on Hawaiian shirts and dresses.Cruise culture embodies everything about the Aloha spirit, so the two were a natural match.
MADE IN HAWAII
In the s, manufacturers began adding the magical phrase "Made in Hawaii" to their Aloha print garment labels. (The idea allegedly came from a trade commissioner from Los Angeles during a visit to Hawaii in .) This new label increased the value and desirability of authentic Hawaiian shirts and dresses on the mainland and across the world. "Made in Hawaii" allowed true Aloha wear to stand out in a market that was being flooded by cheap imitations and mail order garments.
Today, Aloha wear or Hawaiian shirts remain popular choices for tourists, Hawaiian natives and anyone that wishes to partake in the island life wherever they are. The colorful shirts feature bold colors, complex patterns and tropical prints reminiscent of Hawaiian life. If you're in the market for a new Hawaiian shirt, dress or other type of Aloha wear, visit Aloha FunWear to see latest styles and order a piece of the islands for yourself.
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