If the shirt fits, wear it

Lately we have been getting an increased amount of calls from people asking if we buy slightly worn Hawaiian shirts. The calls usually start out something like "I have worn out all of my shirts and need to replace them" and we know that somewhere during the conversation they will be injecting the phrase "rather than throw them out, would you like to buy them".

First off we only sell new Hawaiian clothing and we do not operate a thrift store. But for the life of me I cant understand why someone would ever want to part with something personal like a well worn Hawaiian shirt, especially if they were high quality shirts came from Wave Shoppe Hawaiian shirts, or another awesome company such as Kahala.

I must admit that I am fine with tossing all of the imported shirting directly into the trash, the designs and construction had no value when they were new. 

While for the most part the vintage shirts tend to stay put, every so often we will get a call pertaining to re-homing someones prized collection. I just cringe when the first words I hear are that that some of the shirts they are re-homing are vintage Hawaiian shirts such as the one pictured below.

Vintage Hawaiian shirt

I can honestly say that I wear my Hawaiian shirts until they will no longer stay on my torso. If the shirt still fits even a little, I wear it. When I do have a shirt that is ready to be retired (which is quite rare), I treat the garments disposal just as if it was the American flag. No way would I be able to simply toss my old friends to the curb like that.

Wave Shoppe has a lot of it's first customers and they tell us that they have been wearing their shirts for 11 years now and they tell us that they still get comments on how great the shirts still look. Not to be a braggart, but that's a statement a lot of shirt makers will never hear.

Wrap Your Torso in Tropical Parrots

I realize that winter is just starting to kick-in in many parts of the country, but on this side of the united states its summer, and almost year round. Our weather, which averages in the high 70 to low 80s makes it easy to maintain a tropical mindset year-round.

When I am at the office my mind frequently drifts off to the beach or some tropical island, sometimes its all I can think about. Many days I am wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt with really colorful parrots that wrap my torso in tropical splendor.

I can shut my eyes and almost feel the warm ocean breeze and hear the waves gently crashing on the beach and the parrots squawking in the trees.

Yup, its hard to beat living in a warm climate such as this, though we most certainly pay for it. But its still worth it, mainly because I hate snow and winter and all that cold stuff. No thank you mam, its flip flops, shorts and Hawaiian shirts for me!

In our business it really is Hawaiian shirt Friday every day of the year. So even if winter is upon you think Spring and the next 3 or 4 months will pass much quicker. Need some tropics in your life? Here is a discount coupon that you can use on your next purchase.

Brown is not the official color of poverty

Today I was doing a little investigative reading on colors and ran across a Wikipedia entry that I just don't agree with.

"Brown is the color of dark wood or rich soil. It is a composite color made by combining red, black and yellow. The color is seen widely in nature, in wood, soil, and human hair color, eye color and skin pigmentation. In Europe and the United States, it is the color most often associated with plainness, humility, the rustic, and poverty. It is also, according to public opinion surveys in Europe and the United States, the least favorite color of the public."

They make the claim that brown is a color associated with poverty and that it is one of the least favorite colors in the USA and Europe. I have to disagree with that statement and question how they arrived at such a conclusion.

My first case in point would be stating that a tapa Hawaiian shirt is normally brown in color and brown Tapa cloth is highly prized color amongst collectors.

Explorer Captain Cook sure liked the color brown, in fact he was the first European to collect Tapa cloth and introduce it to the rest of the world. In Tonga, tapa is known as ngatu, and in Tonga it is of great social importance to the islanders, often being given as gifts. Hey, have some poverty brah (said no Tongan ever)

So off to the internet to do some more checking. I checked some home decorating sites as well as performed some simple searches for best colors, favorite colors, etc. and came up with this consensus: "The most popular color in the world is blue. The second favorite colors are red and green, followed by orange, brown and purple." So far, the fine people of the Internet sure don't indicate that the color brown is a disliked color. But you cant believe everything you read on the internet can you?

But wait, pictures don't lie, let's do some additional image searches for "poor people" and "poverty". While I saw a lot of poor people wearing clothing colors such as white, blue, and black, there was very little in the way of brown clothing.

And then I was thinking that chocolate is brown, does that have an association with poverty? Umm nope. What about coffee, its brown in color, is that a sign of poverty?

Even many famous, prestigious universities are built from brown bricks. Not grey or red bricks, but brown, that alone should tell you something about the color brown.

In the end I think the majority consensus on the Internet got it right this time, and Wikipedia is plain wrong. Whether it's colored artificially or naturally, brown is always considered a neutral, yet undeniably popular color. I will always view it as a color associated with nature and our beautiful planet earth and will never look at it as a color symbolic of poverty.

By now your saying to yourself "you didn't mention brown skin color" and your right, I didn't go there because this blog is primarily about product marketing, textiles and clothing trends, not racial issues.

Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirt Fabric Design



Sketch 1

Near the end of the of the year we thought we would close things out with a glimpse of one of the new Hawaiian print fabrics we have been working on for the last 4 months.

Of course there are those of you that are already asking the big question "what takes you so long to knock out a design?" So for those people I will also guide you through some of the basic steps in doing so.

The first step in this process is taking my thoughts on a new fabric design and conveying those mental thoughts to the artist.

This particular design started out with a few leaf and flower pictures from Google images that I simply laid out on a table so I could get a feel for the sizing and repeat for the design.

Once I have a feel for the general repeat I take some rough measurements of things such as flower size, leaf width etc. I will then send my masterpiece to our artist via email. Once she recovers she will call me back and pick my brain over the phone, eventually we reach a point where she feels comfortable enough to start roughing out the first draft of this particular design. Shown in Sketch 1 is the first draft sketch with hibiscus flower and banana leaf.



Sketch 2
 

After we received the first sketch we put it into triage and discuss the designs good and bad points and note any changes we would like to see. In this particular rendition we decided that the banana leaf was to dominant as well as to wide.

 

So the decision was made to scrap one of the banana leafs and replace it with a fern leaf, which is depicted in sketch 2.

 

At this point I should mention that one of the specs for this design was that it not only had to work for Hawaiian shirts for men and women, but also muumuus and dresses.

 

One item that troubled us on this design was that the overall design looked a little “heavy”, meaning the overall design was just to dominant and out of balance with the background color. The weight of a design can make or beak things so its imperative that this part is done correctly.

 

This particular design was actually passed between quite a few artists in Hawaii as well as Japan to discuss the weighting of the leaves as well how to improve the overall look and feel of the design. In my professional opinion the finalized design is now perfectly weighted and well balanced.

 

If you look over at sketch 2 you will see that the tip of the fern leaf is pretty tight against the tip of the banana leaf and the leaf for the hibiscus flower overlaps the banana leaf.
 

Colorized sketch

Mock coloring will also uncover an entirely new set of problems. This design is called an “all over” design and is suitable for not just Hawaiian shirts, but also dresses. What you want to avoid is having any one portion of the design jumping out at you.

At first glance you want the eye to see the entire design and not jump to a specific part, which is this situation we felt we had created just that. If you look at the colorized sketch you will see a few portions of the banana leaf that stood out too much against the rest of the leaf design.

Rather than trying to describe this over the phone it's way easier to send the artist a marked up picture.

In this particular round of changes we asked the artist to break up the broader parts of some leaves with some simple strokes of a brush. The end result was a night and day difference.

Now take a look at the coloring mockup below and you will see that not only has the space between the foliage been increased, but also the width of the banana leafs has now been decreased. The overall positions of the flower clusters were also tweaked so they were in balance with the overall repeat.



Coloring mockup

Next is the all-important task of coloring the design. During the early stages of the design the artist will slap on some random colors, mainly so we can have a little better perspective on what the end design will look like.

 

Ultimately the color choices are left up to me, so during the often lengthy in-between time that it takes to make sketch changes, I can be found digging through color charts and pairing up colors that I feel will be well received by our in-store and on-line customers.


I will normally lay out 50 color codes on a table, and through a process of elimination, eventually arrive at five colors (for each colorway) that I feel go together the best.

  

I would eventually settle on a series of colors, add them in print order next to the color mockup, take a picture of it and then send it to the artist. Yes it’s a bit primitive sounding, but that’s how it works and I am probably being more technical than most artists.

New blue

The end result of all of this work is a new design in blue (shown on the left), which has a perfect color balance. Men as well as women should embrace the colors and how well they work with this particular design.

 

The new purple shown below is another design that we are very excited about.

 

Currently there is not a lot of purple Hawaiian fabric on the market and the designs you can buy are really sucky and cheap looking. 

While we have not yet received the strikeoffs, which is essentially a very short run of approximately 3 yards or each color, we anticipate some really stellar looking fabric. Especially the purple Hawaiian fabric.

New purple

Strikeoffs should be available for our final approval late February 2013 and once we approve them there will be a few weeks of printing time, and maybe another 3 weeks at sea before the rolls of fabric reaches our cutting shop in San Diego.

Which is where we make our Wave Shoppe labeled dresses and Hawaiian shirts sold on www.waveshoppe.com

Your comments and opinions matter, what do you think overall of these designs? Would you buy a shirt or dress in this design?

To Whom It May Concern

"To Whom It May Concern:

I don’t think a company gets much feedback or credit when they do something right and I wanted you to know that I couldn’t be more pleased with the merchandise that I received and how quickly I received it. I placed my order on a Friday and received it the following Monday! What great service! I will be in Maui next week wearing my shirt I purchased which, by the way, fit perfectly.

Thank you again for the great product and the outstanding service your company provided. I will definitely recommend you to anyone.

Ken L

South Sioux City, NE"

Customers who purchase Hawaiian shirts from Wave Shoppe tell it best, adding that our company and products receive praise on a daily basis. Ken recently purchased our big mens Maui Hawaiian shirt which is one of our latest designs.

Ten things you should do while wearing a Hawaiian Shirt

Ten things you should do while wearing a Hawaiian Shirt:

1. Go to a Luau

2. Go to Da Beach to catch Da Local Babes Attention

3. Play your Ukulele... (keep it clean brah)

4. Crash a Wedding

5. Eat Fish & Poi

6. Wear your Hawaiian Shirt on Aloha Friday

7. Take a Trip to Hawaii

8. Hang Loose \m/

9. Go Check Out Hula Girls!

10. Cruizing with the Top Down

Ok so you live in a cave and have no idea where to buy a Hawaiian shirt. Here is a hint, check out Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts and Apparel

Post a comment and tell us what you do in a Hawaiian shirt or post your comment on http://www.facebook.com/HawaiianShirts and we will list your FB page right here!

facebook.com/fuzzyape I hold open houses in my Hawaiian shirts

facebook.com/steve.gerencser I meet with clients in my Hawaiian shirts. No suit or tie here!

facebook.com/sherwood Hamilton II take a stroll on the beach at sunset and watch the fireworks after dark on 4th of july with your toes in the cool sand.

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!

Wave Shoppe - 15% Off Sale - Coupon Code: NOEL

Wave Shoppe is the place to shop if you’re looking to save money on Hawaiian shirts and apparel this holiday season. We offer a great selection of popular designs in sizing that will actually fit you.

Take advantage of free Priority Mail Shipping with any $75 purchase and for a limited time if you use coupon code NOEL during checkout you will also receive 15% off your entire order!

Shopping for aloha in southern California? Swing by and visit our showroom, here are the directions to the store, we would love to meet you in person! Childrens clothes available in-store

From all of us at Wave Shoppe, mahalo and have a wonderfull Christmas.

Charlie Weis in a Hawaiian Shirt

Its almost the end of the year, a signal for those that sell products that its time to start the daunting task of taking a physical inventory. But first, we want to make a quick post to congratulate the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on their first postseason victory in 15 years. We are not big football fans, but due to the fact that we were the supplier of the Aloha shirts A.K.A Hawaiian shirts for the Notre Dame staff, we made an exception and watched the game.

Above and below are game pictures from the 2008 Hawaii Bowl and some pictures of Charlie Weis, coach of the University of Notre Dame, as well as Greg McMackin, coach of the University of Hawaii.

While it’s my understanding that the Hawaii Bowl is not considered a big time event, I think that this is the way every game should end (as deplicted below).

Men acting like real men, what a concept.

But you cant help but wonder what Charlie Weis was really thinking.

"Look at me brah, I kicked your ass while in crutches”

This is my favorite picture of Charlie Weis. With all of the negative stuff I have read about him on the web he still manages to muster up a big smile.

Charlie and his team deserve that trophy because they simply outplayed UH.

Congradulations Charlie!

Ok, I know you are saying to yourself "where can I get a blue Hawaiian shirt like the one Charlie Weis wore in the Hawaii Bowl?"

Well it just so happens that we have that design in 2 colors, a red, and the now semi famous blue. While you missed our shirt sale that we had in October, you can still pick one of the Mauna Loa shirts from the shirt store.

Origins of the Hawaiian Shirt

The Palaka shirt’s fascinating beginnings, a Hawaiian staple using a unique material named Tapa.

Think of Hawaii and the first thing that comes to mind is the Hawaiian shirt. This well known garment is the Palaka shirt and has a long history. Little has changed throughout time including the material used. One cliché that comes to mind is ‘styles always come back’, for this shirt style has never gone out. One wouldn’t think of trees being used to make clothing, but for centuries it has been and still is used.

Used for ceremonial and functional use, the Tapa cloth is also found used for the ever popular Palaka shirts as well as wall tapestries in many Hawaiian homes. The Palaka shirt that uses this unusual material has an interesting story in itself. Coming from other countries in Asia such as China and Japan, the Hawaiian field laborers found in their hands shirts with tails. To help protect them from the hot sun the workers improved the shirts for more practical use by taking off the tails and making them of light loose fitting material instead of the rich embroidered silks they were originally made in.

These now traditional Palaka shirts are sometimes seen with the darker print on the inside showing the faded patterns on the outside. It appears the shirt is worn the wrong way, but this is really the way they were created to show the muted pattern. Usually found in traditional basic colors such as black or brown, but are also made in a multitude of colors and fabrics. Tapa fabric is not a very sturdy fabric and tends to be used more for the higher ceremonial purpose and special occasion. It is seen sometimes worn by government officials, chiefs and in weddings.

This material can be found in about every home usually on shirts, decorative quilts or wall ornaments. Tapa’s that are given by a chief or royal family holds more value and most often time will be displayed in the home. Because the process is completely made of and with natural sources it is friendlier to the environment. Even the brushes used to apply the natural dyes and paints are made from sticks with frayed ends. Simplistic and beautiful from a culture that respects nature and tradition in an ever changing modern world it’s good to know that with tradition the old customs of Hawaii still find a place in today’s society. Read the entire article on Origins of the Hawaiian Shirt.