The History of Hawaiian Aloha Shirt

Hawaii was a drab place for any kind of a fashion statement until the immigrants came to the islands in the 1920's and 30's.

Now, mix and match the Japanese kimono, the Filipino Barong Tagalog (untucked shirt), the Chinese colored silk, and the plain collar shirt from the United States; whip in a tradional style Hawaiian geomitric design and voila! We got a "Palaka" shirt which resembeled a type of bright colored plaid.

After that the Hawaiian Print Shirt came along and is what the locals refer to as the "Aloha Shirt". You know, the flowery, "surfa" looking shirts to distinguish the locals and visitors to the islands. It is also widely worn by businessmen to work every day.

It is said that a man named Ellery Chun was the main reason the bright colorful printed shirts became so popular starting in the 1930's. Mr. Chun owned a dry goods store and sold these bright colorful printed shirts made from leftover Japanese kimono material and sold for 95 cents each! In 1936 Mr. Chun trademarked the name "Aloha Shirt" and from there it continued to take off in popularity.

Then, in the 1950's it went berserk! The Hawaiian print clothing became ever more popular with the tourists, Hollywood movie stars and the rich and famous visiting the islands and taking it back to the Continental United States (referred to by locals as the "mainland") In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state. The "Aloha State" and brought even more tourists and visitors to the islands which increased more revenue for the famous "Aloha Attire".

And the rest is history. We now have everything made from the famous Aloha Print material. The Muu'muu for women (loosely fit dress for comfort), childrens clothes, bathing suits, swim shorts, car seat covers, blankets, curtains and more!

You name it; we most likely have it in the famous Hawaiian print.

Shopping for Hawaiian attire is no big secret and you can find shops all over Ala Moana Center, Pearlridge Mall, Windward Mall, Ward Center, Kahala Mall as well as other small shopping centers around the islands. Following are a couple well known designers of Hawaiian apparel:

TORI RICHARDS

Hilo Hatties

MAMO

Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman's Mililani Hawaii Real Estate Blog 2007