Hawaiian Aloha Shirts inspired by Home Depot

As most of you know Wave Shoppe Hawaiian shirts is a mom and pop Hawaiian clothing manufacturer and retailer. Approximately 40% of the shirts and muumuus you see in our showroom are actually designed in-house. What few people know is how we actually get some of our inspiration.

Inspiration for the designs can come at anytime and often in the most unlikely situations. Lets use one of our most recent designs (pictured), a classic yet simple design containing hibiscus flower, palm and banana leaf.

This beautiful navy blue fabric contains 5 colors, 4 of which are shades of blue and a shade of grey. This was utilized in production of these blue Hawaiian shirts which are available in mens and womens styles as well as dresses.

The purple fabric, also pictured, follows the same convention, 4 shades of purple and a shade of grey. This color is also available as purple Hawaiian shirts in men and womens styles as well as muumuu dresses


Inspiration for this design actually occurred while I was at Home Depot selecting some paint for our family room.

Yes you read that correctly, Home Depot. While I was waiting for some help, I stood in front of the paint strips and was just mesmerized by all of the color combinations and variations of color.

It was almost impossible to resist thinking how cool it would be to have a Hawaiian fabric that was colored in such a way that it actually mimicked the paint samples.

So on a whim, I grabbed bunch of samples of purples and blues and stuck them in my pocket and preceded to purchase 2 gallons of grey paint for my family room.

A few months had passed and we just happened to be working on a new blue and a new purple fabric design. We were in phase 3 of the design process, balancing had been signed off on and we had just received our first colorized proofs in the mail. Proofing is always performed with design printed on paper, its the best and most accurate way to determine what the coloring will look like on a textile. 

Unfortunately upon our initial and immediate inspection of the artwork, we were simply not getting a good vibe from the coloring. The colors just didn't flow properly or disperse the design as evenly as we were hoping for.

And then it hit me, why not incorporate the colors used in these paint samples? Magically (one revision later) we all unanimously agreed that we had a winner and began prepping the artwork for printing on cotton.

And the grey color? Well I always have to be different, so we filled the area around the hibiscus stem with grey, the same grey we painted our family room in. It gave the hibiscus flowers some additional contrast and balance. That's a true story about the inspiration for that particular design. It has been well received and we anticipate using this very same coloring/design convention with some different colors, possibly red or green and I think that orange would look super cool with that treatment.

Mahalo

Cars n Beaches in Textiles

Its a well know fact that people have a love affair with automobiles, as well as a deep passion for the beachcomber lifestyle. When you first think of cars you usually associate them with highways and racetracks, a topic we will revisit in a little bit.

What you may or may not realize is that cars have also been at home in the sand. Be it driving up and down Daytona Beach or Corpus Christi Beach (since re-named North Beach). With the 1952 Nascar Daytona Beach Race claiming the lions share of fame, though driving up and down Corpus Christi Beach should be on everyone bucket list. There is an incredible amount of wildlife, especially if your into bird watching, as well as natural dunes to take in, not to mention 5 miles of drivable sand.

And next up is the surf crowd, while many popular surf beaches were once open to automobiles, those privileges are now just a fond memory of the good old days. Still there were many surfer that utilized station wagons, Ford Galaxy's, woodie cars and even panel trucks.

As you can only imagine, it was just a matter of time before the textile industry decided to meld the two together and print automotive themed fabrics. Many of which could be utilized in something novel like a Hawaiian shirt with a red woody car parked on the beach.

We can attest to the fact that just about every factory production car has most likely reproduced in a fabric. And due to the high cost of licensing, there are also a lot of fabrics sporting no name cars that slightly resemble their famous counterparts, some almost mirror them but we wont tread in those waters today.

Now back to racing, believe it or not Hawaiian shirts are quite popular at the racetracks, why I do not know, but they are everywhere. Even popular racetracks such as Fontana Speedway wear them as staff uniforms and such.

Of course Hawaiian shirts with cars are not limited to speedways, the car cultures demand a myriad of designs, themes and colors in their clothing. Patronize any car show or cruise night and you will see what we mean.

Luau Sized Mens Clothing

In Hawaii a luau (Hawaiian: lū‘au) is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast that is usually accompanied by live entertainment in the form of music, dance and or story telling. Most luaus feature food such as poi, kalua pig, poke, lomi salmon, opihi, haupia, and huli huli chicken. Most of the time the delicious food is served buffet style and overeating is just bound to occur.

Lets get this out front, when you dress for any luau you want to dress comfortable, as well as look "Hawaiian". The last thing you want is to be seen standing in line or sitting in front of a plate full of yummy food wearing a shirt that is so dam tight that it looks and feels like the buttons are going to blow right off the shirt. Even worse is if it actually happens.

It happens more often than you think, and while the guys may be somewhat at fault, some of the blame has to be placed on the clothing manufacturers. There are so many companies pumping out Hawaiian shirts that are way to small for the grade, some are two to three sizes too small and that's before washing! We sell a lot of big mens Hawaiian shirts for one simple reason, they fit.

Shown on the left is a design that is very popular, the Hawaiian shirt is made from rayon material, which offer superior had vs. cotton shirting.

The print in this shirt has beautiful tropical leafs containing Polynesian designs and these Indigo (Blue) Hawaiian shirts are cut very liberally, the shirt will offer your body a comfortable fit in al of the right places without looking like you are wearing the wrong size.

We can not express enough the importance of choosing the best looking and well fitting clothing you can when planning on attending a luau. Even if the luau is on the mainland please take the time to select or a Hawaiian shirt that allows room for movement after washing. We guarantee that if you buy any handcrafted Wave Shoppe labeled shirt that it will fit well right out of the package, as well as after repeated washings. Wave Shoppe makes their clothing in the USA!