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!

Look at what's new at Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts

Aloha to all our customers and ohana, we hope you are having a marvelous summer and eating loads of good grinds. This is the time of year that we are doing all we can do to keep up with orders for our lines of Hawaiian apparel, especially our line of Hawaiian shirts for men, which are made in the USA with the finest materials and craftsmanship available.

And then we have our Hawaiian store in San Diego, which carries the largest selection of Hawaiian apparel this side of the Hawaiian Islands. When you see all that’s behind this operation you cant help but wonder how we manage to keep it all together, we ask ourselves the same thing at times.

But the show must go on, including producing new and exciting designs. Without further ado we would like to offer you a preview of things to come.

First in the lineup is a design we call Maui Hawaiian shirts. This uniquely colored shirt has a black background with goldenrod colored plumeria and mango hibiscus flowers that really make the shirt pop.

While these mens shirts are not yet ready for distribution, but you may pre-order this shirt today from the Website.

We expect sewing to be completed by 8/18/2010 or sooner.

Next up is a beautiful Polynesian block print that we call Hilo Bay Hawaiian shirts which is a blend of Hawaiian nostalgia and Polynesian culture. Hmmm could that be a Tiki statue integrated into the design?

As with the Maui shirts, these mens shirts are not yet ready for distribution, but you may pre-order this shirt today from the Website.

We expect sewing to be completed by 8/18/2010 or sooner.

Well that’s it for now, keep an eye out for more exciting designs that will be released in the upcoming months. We are also near the end of our journey with an all new apparel design that will put this line far ahead of the pack. Pre-production garments will be distributed to our focus groups in the upcoming weeks, stay tuned!

Mahalo from the fine folks at Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts

See Hawaii as did the ancient Hawaiians

See Hawaii as did the ancient Hawaiians and Captain Cook! According to the website, Ocean Joy Cruises will take you to the Unspoiled Waianae coastline where dolphins, turtles and other Hawaiian sea life play and flourish. Now normally I would say that’s a pretty bold statement, but one of my friends had the opportunity to take one of their tours and he said to me that
"you really do get to swim with the sea turtles in their natural environment" well that was all I needed to extend my endorsement.

I remember being in south Florida around Melbourne Beach to observe the green sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs, what an awesome experience that was. If your going to HI for some dolphin watching or snorkeling action, this is a must do cruise.