So, have you packed a bright, tropical Hawaiian shirt for your next cruise yet? Nothing says ‘vacation’ more than a colorful Aloha shirt and, as you pack yours for your next trip, spare a thought for this piece of fashion history’s colorful past…
Hawaiian shirts were popular long before Elvis Presley wore a red aloha shirt on the album cover for the “Blue Hawaii” soundtrack in 1961. In fact, the modern Hawaiian shirt came about in the early 1930s.
A Chinese merchant named Ellery Chun of King-Smith Clothiers and Dry Goods, owned a store in Waikiki. Ellery started to sew brightly colored aloha shirts for sale to tourists and fashioned them from old kimono fabrics he had leftover in stock.
The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper was quick to coin them by the term ‘Aloha shirt’ and Ellery trademarked the name. The first ad in the Honolulu Advertiser for Chun’s Hawaiian shirts was published in June 1935. Local residents, especially those in the surfing community as well as tourists descended on Chun’s store and bought every shirt he had.
Withina short space of time, major designer labels sprung up all over Hawaii and began manufacturing and selling Aloha shirts en masse. Retail chains in Hawaii, even mass produced Hawaiian shirt designs to use as their employee uniforms. At sites like Hawaiian Shirts Central you’ll see some of the best examples of Aloha shirt and apparel.
After World War 2, many servicemen/women returned to the USA from Asia and the Pacific islands with aloha shirts that had been made in Hawaii since the 1930s. Then as tourists started flocking to Hawaii post WW2 in the 1950s, the tropical-print shirts for men and sundresses for women became standard souvenirs for travelers.
In 1962, a professional manufacturing association known as the Hawaiian Fashion Guild began to promote Hawaiian shirts and clothing for use in the workplace, particularly as business attire. In a campaign called ‘Operation Liberation’ the Guild delivered two aloha shirts to every member of the Hawaii House of Representatives and the Hawaii Senate. This was a success because soon a resolution was passed in the Senate recommending that aloha attire be worn throughout the summer in Hawaii.
In 1965, Bill Foster, Sr., the then president of the Hawaii Fashion Guild, led a campaign lobbying for an official and regular “Aloha Friday”, a day when all employers would allow their staff to wear Hawaiian shirts on the last business day of the week. In 1966 Aloha Friday officially began in Hawaii and has since spread worldwide – although now-a-days it is commonly referred to as ‘Casual Friday’.
