Don’t be Hawaiian shirt ‘less

Don’t be Hawaiian shirt ‘less, many people wear them, more than a few people collect them, and a few people (in Hawaii and the mainland) consider them cultural artwork. I consider them my shirts of choice. There are multiple forms of Hawaiian shirts, some that came about from rebellion, from hardship, and of course born from meeting a personal need to wear vivid color. Some are even worn as island symbolism while shooting at bad guys in other countries. Run Forest run!

When the Hawaiian shirt was first being born in the late 1920’s/early 1930’s, the beachwear of the day was white. White pants, white hat, white shirt, white shoes. Before that evolution occurred and probably the beginning of the origins of the Hawaiian shirt, the shirts were mostly worn by vast numbers of Hawaiian field laborers from China and Japan. The early plantation workers shirts were often made from checkered designs (a woven checkered pattern of dark blue and off white like their summer kata’s were made of back home) at times called palaka shirts. But many very early field shirts were just bits and pieces made from parts of other garments. What mattered most was that they kept the hot sun off the workers backs.

You could keep them clean by washing them in a lake or a bucket of water by hand, and then letting them simply air dry on the branch of a tree, regardless of how you washed them they would keep you cool in the hot fields. Whatever the benefits, the dull checkered patterns were too much like a uniform for many, but with the introduction of colorful Asian fabrics, Hawaiian shirts of bright patterns and colors were most widely adopted for sales to eager to shop tourists.

Celebrities of the day such as Bing Crosby, Elvis etc. wore them (celebrities were probably the few that could afford to travel to the Hawaiian Islands at that time), and their popularity became more mainstream once their fans saw their favorite celebrities wearing one.

During times of hardship such as World War II and the depression, petroleum based fabrics became scarce. To make ends meet and keep business coming in, some merchants ingeniously used upholstery and curtain fabrics in their shirts and it wasn’t uncommon to see other shirts cut up and recycled into a Hawaiian style cut shirt.

In the late 1960s (after the royal Hawaiian females no longer dominated surfing) when the world was in the grip of the first surfing craze, the beach boys and other gnarly surfer dudes wore their shirts in the salt and sun so much the shirts would be sun faded and have a natural washed out look. This was a badge of honor among some male surfers (go figure), and as you can guess some of the entrepreneurial island shirt makers emulated it by making shirts with the patterns inside out! God even wears one!

Christmas is right around the corner so...

Christmas is right around the corner so let’s not forget to buy an aloha gift for each of your family members and closest friends. Equally important is that you make a conscious effort to show support for your local merchants, as well as taking a moment to see where the product is made. America is a great county and purchasing products made in the USA will insure that it stays that way for generations to come.

Those words of wisdom also apply to Hawaiian shirts and women’s apparel as well, Wave Shoppe’s clothing lines are made right here in San Diego and Hawaii from the finest materials and with the upmost of craftsmanship. We have maintained a loyal customer base since 2004 which serves testament to the quality of Wave Shoppe apparel.

If your gifting a man for we would obviously suggest Hawaiian shirts for men but if the Christmas gift is for a women you have a lot more choices to make. Women’s Hawaiian shirts are popular, even in the winter, but we would have to say that hands down a new muumuu would bring tears of joy to any female recipient that longs for Hawaii.

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us at Wave Shoppe!