Culture Clash, Hash Print, and ‘Operation Liberation’: The Muddled History of the Hawaiian Aloha Shirt

From the Shaka to Lilo and Stitch, Hawaii’s scenic landscapes and rich culture has often been tied to a relaxed and idealistic way of life, and none of their exports have made quite the impact as the Aloha shirt. With roots as far back as Japanese migration in the 1800s, to a corporate political push for ‘Casual Fridays’, the Aloha shirt has a surprising history that makes it much more than the casual garment it seems on the surface.

Origins
Hawaii’s modern history has been massively influenced by the island chain's role in the sugar industry, with its ethnic makeup, independence, and culture all being changed drastically thanks to the first sugar plantation, Koloa. Ladd & Co’s Old Sugar Mill, first opened its doors in 1835. As the demand for sugar grew, especially during the North's blockade on Southern sugar during the Civil War in the United States, Hawaii’s sugar businesses needed to dramatically increase their manpower to meet demand. Beginning in the mid-1800s, these companies began recruiting from overseas, with employees flooding in from Asia, especially Japan and the Philippines, demographics that now stand as the two most common ethnic origins for Hawaiian citizens. The Japanese especially were successful in keeping strong cultural traditions alive despite their relocation, with ‘picture brides’ often arriving in the early 1900s from Japan to ensure Japanese men did not marry outside of their race like Chinese and European men often did. Japanese families retained their heritage with the establishment of Buddhist temples and what would be the first Japanese schools in the United States. This onus on heritage also extended to clothing, with Japanese fabric — especially silken fabrics like challis, which was commonly used for kimonos — being a commonplace import, and it's here where we see the first, extremely contested examples of Aloha shirting.

Two men have viable claims on being the first producer of the Aloha Shirt. The first, Koichiro Miyamoto, was a Japanese tailor who ran the Musa-Shiya Shoten shirt making shop, specialising mainly in English textiles. According to Miyamoto's wife Dolores, the actor John Barrymore (yes, Drew Barrymore’s Grandfather) came into Musa-Shiya Shoten sometime in the early 1930s and requested a shirt made of cotton yakuta fabric, which spurred the tailor to begin running ads for the ‘Aloha Shirt’ in the Honolulu Advertiser on June 28th, 1935. The second, Ellery Chun, was Chinese-born, and was the first to register ‘Aloha Shirt’ and ‘Aloha Sportswear’ as trademarks, these being in 1936 and 1937. According to Chun, colourful handmade shirts cut from Japanese challis fabric were popular among Japanese and Filipino boys, and he was the first to create ready-to-wear examples, advertising them in the window of his shop, King-Smith Clothiers, as ‘Hawaiian Shirts’. Public opinion seems to have swayed to Chun being the rightful creator, but regardless of their true origin, one thing that can’t be disputed was the immediate popularity of Aloha shirts.

Versatile Shirt
You can’t go on holiday without a great shirt. The more versatile the better. Leave your stuffy office shirts at home, this is the time to show some sun to the ones you don’t get to wear as often. And nothing suits a holiday better than a chambray. Lightweight, fresh washes of colour, breathable blends, it’s a no brainer. Chambrays look amazing with more structured trousers such as chinos but also pair easily with your favourite pair of shorts. Wear them open over a tee, loosely buttoned, sleeves rolled, whatever the flavour, the chambray is as easy as they come.

Popularity
As with many iconic pieces of menswear, a huge reason for the popularity of the Aloha shirt was America's involvement in WWII. This time, instead of strictly military use, the shirt gained popularity with soldiers based in Hawaii during their free time. After the controversial annexation of Hawaii by the United States in 1898, the government utilised the Islands status as an American territory to station the Marines, the Navy, and the Army at sugar plantations that had been retrofitted into military bases. During their free time, servicemen grew fond of Aloha shirts, and many brought their new collections back home after the war ended. The Japanese origin of these shirts presented an issue though, as in spite of their obvious connection to America's new favourite shirt, those with Japanese heritage in Hawaii were forcefully moved to internment camps during the war, and a huge amount of racism towards Japanese-Americans had flared after Pearl Harbour. In response to this, a new style began dominating the Aloha shirt, with beaches, pineapples, hula girls, and more being collaged across the fabric. This would later be termed ‘hash print’, a tongue and cheek reference to food made by throwing whatever you have left into a pot. It’s here where the Japanese roots are erased from the Aloha shirt, and the garment is firmly planted in Hawaii.

As the shirt gained popularity, business savvy clothiers began to realise the marketing potential of the Aloha. In 1946, largely spurred by businessmen and politicians complaining about Hawaii's heat, Honolulu passed a resolution that allowed government employees to wear their Aloha shirts from June to October, a huge change in the accepted dress code of the time. Because Rayon had become an industrialised fabric during the golden age of Aloha shirts, it became the standard cloth used in the production because of its similarity to silk, and therefore the shirts were incredibly cooling and lightweight – a perfect alternative to cotton shirting. The visibility of the shirt and its clear ties to Hawaii also made the Aloha a surprising hit with tourists, with the first ‘Aloha Week’ in 1967 expanding across the state and soon becoming ‘Aloha Month’, inviting swarms of visitors to experience the islands and remember their time with a shirt of their own. This seemed to be just the start though, as the Aloha shirts' cultural ties to relaxation and freedom spurred the Hawaiian Fashion Guild to ‘donate’ two shirts to every member of the Hawaii House of Representatives in an audacious manoeuvre they called ‘Operation Liberation’. The campaign moved to change the ‘optional’ status of casual shirting though the summer to ‘recommended’, urging politicians to embrace relaxation. After passing, the guild then introduced ‘Aloha Fridays’, which then became known worldwide as 'Casual Friday’ in the 1990s, bleeding through to the wider cultural lexicon.

It’s only in the 2000s when Hawaiian shirts began to be frowned upon by menswear, largely because the style was completely co-opted by corporate marketing entities, making the shirt seem like a tacky way to make your office less boring. This is changing though, and that's a good thing, because worn well, the Aloha shirt can be a bold and stylish statement piece that really shows you know how to put an outfit together. Aloha shirts are at their best when worn how they're supposed to be… relaxed! Untuck them from the chinos and wear them with some faded jeans and a tee. Think Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood… and H.I. McDunnogh in Raising Arizona. Embrace the easygoing nature of the shirt and you’ll open up a world of comfortable possibilities.

Legacy
The Aloha shirt has a strange duel history. At their most pure, they celebrate the blending of cultures to create something new, but as they’ve become more mass-market, they can often seem to signify the ills of American overconsumption, commercialism, and even colonialism, with Haunani-Kay Trask, the late Hawaiian activist and professor, once describing them as ‘the grotesque commercialisation of everything Hawaiian.” So, how do we find a proper Aloha shirt? Today, you can get one for a few dollars, or pay thousands for an original, but we’d recommend choosing something that does justice to the heritage and the culture. Brands like Mambo have become cultural icons in their countries of origin, adapting pop culture prints onto the traditional designs, whereas more traditional brands like Kahala are still made in Honolulu. For us, the best blend of heritage and production quality is of course Micky Oye, the Berlin based Aloha shirt makers who use incredibly high quality materials and tasteful prints that celebrate Hawaiian culture with a healthy dose of classic 1950s Americana. The brand stay away from the over-commercialisation that made the shirts a taboo in the 2000s, making for stylish and colourful shirts that will carry you through the summer.