VINTAGE HAWAIIAN SHIRTS - History of the hawaiian shirt

"Hana waterfall"

"History of the Hawaiian Shirt"

The advent of Hawaiian shirts stems from the designs of what the earliest natives wore. They wore a cloth called "Tapa", which was the fibers of different fronds and inner barks pounded together to make a cloth. Technically, the old style tapa is actually a paper!

These early coverings could be either left plain, or covered with designs. The forests provide many different dyes, and the natives took full advantage of them.

When the missionaries arrived, the royalty switched to woven fabrics. As trade made the kings wealthy, more woven fabric became available.

Designs became more creative with increased availability.

One challenge was to fit the larger bodies of the Hawaiians into clothes comfortable for hot and humid conditions. It is said that the dense foods made availalbe through trade was too heavy for the natives, who were used to healthier foods such as taro and fish.

As the royalty adopted western clothing, and as missionaries covered their converts, woven cloth became to be seen as fitting for the upper classes.

Cruises to the islands starting in the 1900s began to make Hawaii visible to the rest of the world, Mark Twain even visited for a three month stay. What really made the fashion industry come about was Hollywood.

During the Thirties and onward, Hollywood produced movies about far off and exotic places. Movie stars wore the striking and beautiful aloha shirts being made in Honolulu, Everyone wanted to be like the movie stars, and the demand for Hawaiian shirts took off!

Today, tropical shirts are made throughout the world. There are shirts from Africa, Florida, the Caribbean, Asia, California and elsewhere that make such shirts, and each region offers a particular flavor to their designs. Although many shirts are made in other parts of the world and shipped through companies based out of Hawaii, only shirts that are sewn in Hawaii can bear the label, "Made In Hawaii". It is generally agreed upon that this difference is what makes a Hawaiian shirt a Hawaiian shirt (also an "aloha" shirt)..