
Hawaiian Style: The Roots of the Aloha Shirt - ohjeez
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-aloha-shirt-author-and-scholar-linda-arthur/
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highdesertmuse
My husband lives and works in nothing but Reyn Spooners and jeans -- has a 40
year old "collection" (every year the company produces several new designs
that are emblematic for that year). He says they're made of the original
Hawaiian Fabric and are the most comfortable and certainly most long lasting
-- they turn the fabric inside out so wear is just part of the look. They are
beautiful classic shirts and I never get tired of seeing him in them.

~~~
joejerryronnie
I was looking to pick up a couple of Reyn Spooner shirts while on the big
island last month, but I realized they all had collar buttons. My mind cannot
reconcile aloha shirts and collar buttons existing in the same universe so I
went with Tommy Bahama instead.

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beamatronic
There are different grades of Aloha type shirts. I once had a business meeting
in Hawaii. There is a business casual grade for lack of a better term.
Everyone at this business looked so stylish and classy yet with a tropical
sort of flair. It was great!

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papa
So true. I love Aloha shirts (I grew up on Oahu). The best thing about them is
that they are multi-purpose. Need to wear something to a wedding in Hawaii?
Aloha shirt with slacks. Funeral? Aloha shirt, totally acceptable. Fancy
restaurant? Again, Aloha shirt. Business attire? Totally acceptable (it's
really the norm for business people if you're 'dressing up').

Where else can you get away with wearing such a comfortable, fun shirt in so
many different contexts.

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whatok
When I tell people that only lawyers wear suits in Hawaii they don't believe
me. Don't know if still going on but the legislature was pushing the courts to
discourage the use of suits as well.

On top of all your reasons, it's just too hot and humid year round in Hawaii
to wear a suit regularly. Must be pure misery for the people who have to.

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TheGRS
I grew up in Hawaii and my Dad was a federal agent, he previously worked in DC
and Philly before we moved there, he still wore aloha shirts to work because
it was just the normal thing to do there.

Can't help but agree with it either, its _always_ nice. Why tie yourself down
with a suit? (pun intended)

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Semirhage
I don’t know, New York in August makes it pretty unpleasant to wear a suit.
Actually it’s unpleasant just to try and breathe... it’s like huffing hummus.
Of course Florida in August is downright fatal. I think fashion just doesn’t
care.

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Turing_Machine
> New York in August makes it pretty unpleasant to wear a suit.

As Neal Stephenson has observed, the three-piece wool suit makes perfect sense
if you're in a place where the year-round temperature is a constant 50 degrees
F, indoors and out.

Basically, the British Isles before modern central heating, and nowhere else.

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TheGRS
Its also hard to deny that a well-fitted suit just looks good though.

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blanderman
I think they look antiquated. I'd prefer never to wear clothing that needs to
be treated with harsh chemicals.

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panzagl
Nothing says Officially Sanctioned Fun like Hawaiian shirt Friday...

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joejerryronnie
A previous co-worker recently took a job with one of the big consulting firms
in DC. They have "jeans Fridays" but you have to pay $5.00 to participate each
week.

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Analemma_
Man, having a job on the East Coast seems like a fate worse than death. You'll
pry my jeans and T-shirt from my cold, dead fingers.

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jitix
I'm glad I work in tech. Shorts and flip flops are the first questions I ask
any recruiter that contacts me.

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electricslpnsld
I'd like to know how Hawaiian shirts became the official attire of US Federal
Air Marshals

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matt_the_bass
A few years ago I had to get some paperwork stamped returning to the US
(equipment travelling on a carnet). I had to go through passport control in an
area far from most travelers. While talking to the CBP agent, a motley group
of 8 gregarious people can down the hall and skipped the passport control. The
CBP agent I was working with said “there goes the Air Marshals”. The group was
mixed gender, mixed ages, mixed build, mixed style. I would not have pegged
any of them as Air Marshals. One girl had dyed punk hair and a biker jacket.
One guy looked like a middle aged dad. One girl looked like a European fashion
model.

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jedberg
Fascinating. I have a pretty solid collection of Aloha shirts myself, but I
always thought they were a mainland invention and that the Hawaiians just sort
of adopted them.

It makes me happy to know that they actually create the idea and is a positive
part of their culture, and not just another adoption of their colonizer's
culture.

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bradknowles
I have some Sig Zane shirts. Love them. They are proper Aloha shirts. Bought
them in Hilo, when my wife and I were on vacation a couple of years ago to the
big island.

I also have some shirts with much bolder fluorescent colors and more garish
styling, many of which I bought at Hilo Hattie's, which ironically does not
exist in Hilo. I bought mine on Maui, during that same trip.

The latter are what I would call "Hawaiian Shirts", with quotes intact. Only
suitable for tourists to wear. No local would be caught dead in them.

Here on the mainland, I wear my "Hawaiian Shirts" every day, and on days with
hot weather, I also wear cargo shorts and Keen sandals. I wouldn't want to
work any place that would not allow me to wear the clothes that make me feel
comfortable.

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nmcfarl
Archive:
[http://archive.today/2018.07.11-134734/https://www.collector...](http://archive.today/2018.07.11-134734/https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-
interview-with-aloha-shirt-author-and-scholar-linda-arthur/)

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toomanybeersies
In Fiji, they wear bula shirts, which are more or less the same (bula == aloha
in Fijian).

I wonder if they're a separate parallel development, or if they were
introduced at some point.

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greggman
I'm curious. much of South East Asia has the Batik shirts. The higher end ones
are considered formalwear. Is there any connection?

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Turing_Machine
Then there are those embroidered shirts from the Philippines.

Those are awesome -- they don't seem to be as common now, but you still
sometimes see older Filipino gentlemen wearing them on "dress-up" occasions.

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coldtea
Any good brands? I saw a mention of Reyn Spooners.

Usually I made do with Tommy Bahamas.

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vadym909
Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack are usually good places to find good brands and
deals inc Reyn Spooner and Tommy Bahamas

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timwaagh
Just got two of them in today. I love this type of shirt.

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whatok
People, please stop calling them Hawaiian shirts. Thank you.

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JoeAltmaier
OH, they're definitely Hawaiian shirts. They're not Estonian, for instance.
Nor Japanese. Pure Hawaiian. There are also Hawaiian pants, and skirts etc.

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jmkb
The article's a fun read, and indicates that the originals were a product of
Chinese tailors using Japanese kimono fabric in a hybrid Filipino/European
style at the request of middle-class Hawaiian school boys.

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JoeAltmaier
...and made in Hawaii. By Hawaiians. To local taste. As genuinely Hawaiian as
any designer dress is the designer's product, regardless of the tailor or
fabric origin.

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mduncs
Hawaiian is primarily used as an ethnonym, so saying the Aloha shirt is a
'Hawaiian Shirt' is implying the shirt as part of native Hawaiian culture.
What you say is technically true at a certain level, people who live in Hawaii
do have the demonym of 'Hawaiian', but that term is reserved for the
indigenous Polynesian people of Hawaii. It would seem odd to say for someone
to say they enjoy native American food as a means of expressing their like of
hamburgers and french fries.

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verylittlemeat
Anyone reading this article or talking about Hawaiian shirts is using Hawaiian
colloquially. Maybe you live in a milieu where a distinction is necessary but
for most people it just comes off as word policing.

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mduncs
The distinction of Hawaiian as a colloquial reference to anything from the
state of Hawaii is made only outside of the state itself.

I can't change the way English itself works so there will always be that
meaning, but to anyone from Hawaii, that distinction reminds us that native
Hawaiians are distinct from the people of Hawaii today.

The Hawaiian culture has had its fair share of erasure and suppression. To
make the distinction is an attempt to honor and remember the unique identity
of native Hawaiians.

~~~
jasode
_> Hawaiian is primarily used as an ethnonym, so saying the Aloha shirt is a
'Hawaiian Shirt' is implying the shirt as part of native Hawaiian culture._

I'm not sure people outside of Hawaii mistakenly link the "Hawaiian shirt" to
_native_ Hawaiian culture. (The _" native"_ modifier is key here for clear
discussion.)

Instead, "Hawaiian shirt" is more innocently used as "a shirt common in the
geographical place of Hawaii". If you really tried to get outsiders to picture
a __native_ Hawaiian culture_ , they might imagine shirtless Polynesian people
like these images.[1] Those people are not wearing the touristy floral printed
shirts that are sold as "Hawaiian shirts".

 _> The Hawaiian culture has had its fair share of erasure and suppression. To
make the distinction is an attempt to honor and remember the unique identity
of native Hawaiians._

I'm still confused why the label "Hawaiian shirt" is erasing _native_ Hawaiian
culture.

If Europeans choose to label what USA citizens call "football" as _" American
football"_, they do not imply that everybody links these images[2] to _native_
American culture. No matter how many times Europeans repeat the phrase
"American football", these images of native Americans[3] will always be a
separate and preserved concept in their minds.

[1]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=polynesian+people&source=lnm...](https://www.google.com/search?q=polynesian+people&source=lnms&tbm=isch)

[2]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=nfl+football&source=lnms&tbm...](https://www.google.com/search?q=nfl+football&source=lnms&tbm=isch)

[3]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=native+americans&source=lnms...](https://www.google.com/search?q=native+americans&source=lnms&tbm=isch)

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mduncs
Yeah, its tough to understand how people think of a word on a case to case
basis. Everyone will have different connotations. There is murkiness that
exists as part of its use as a noun or an adjective.

My point of erasure relates to making the use of Hawaiian as a noun
specifically relating to anything native Hawaiian.

The football thing doesn't feel entirely on point for me, an analogy of
Europeans seeing Tex-Mex and calling it Mexican food seems closer to the idea.
It is technically right, but some people from Mexico would disagree with that
being _real_ Mexican food.

