Get polled Hawiian Shirt Style

I'd like everyone to share some info on their Hawiian Shirt Collection.

-How many do you have?
-Any so ugly you wouldn't wear in public?
-Any so special you have framed?
etc.
Im sad to say I only have 5 left. Most were poly and just gave up ater 15 years of partying. I'm slowly building my collection back up. I'd like a least a dozen.
~Caber-Net

I currently have 8 (one for each day of the week, including leap week). My most, well, I wouldn't say ugly, just one I wouldn't wear in public and my most special are the same. It is a Hilo Hattie shirt given to my grandfather by his boss when he was a butcher in Fry's Market in downtown Tacoma in 1958. His boss went to Hawaii, caught the Hawaiian fever, thought it would be neat if a bunch of butchers wore Aloha shirts at the meat market (?).It is silk and hand stiched on the sleeves and pocket. My grandfather was 87 at the time he gave it to me, a widower, and was giving his stuff away as I think he thought the end (his) was near. He was off by 2 years. Anyway, it's in great condition and I plan to give it away when I go away (hopefully, later rather than sooner).

Tiki Bong

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2002-05-09 08:58 ]

I have about 15 or so. My favorites came from Paradise on a Hanger http://www.hotshirts.com (No, I don't work for them, they just make great shirts). Another favorite brand is Pineapple Connection.
I have two I probably wouldn't wear in public: One from Planet Hollywood (not really Hawai'ian but similar in style) and one that looks like a short-sleeved doctor's coat, low pockets and all. It was only 3 bucks, though :wink:

Patrick McNeal

[ Edited by: Biotron2000 on 2002-05-09 09:10 ]

I've got a dozen or so.... my favorite is an Evelyn Margolis shirt.... covered with awesome orange and green Tikis... I have one I love but would NEVER wear outside the comforts of my home tiki bar.... it is hot pink with orange abstract hibiscus flowers printed on it! Would have looked good on Peter Brady....

:tiki:

I think I have about 12 or so, but some are on the fringe as far as qualifying as actual Hawaiian/Aloha shirts. My favs are a Reyn Spooner with tiki mugs, drunk dude with swirls for eyes, and Hula girls with "Hula Hi-ball" written on it. On sale from $70 to 20 bucks! Also an all bamboo print from Banana Republic.

I don't think there are any I wouldn't wear in public. I used to wear ONLY aloha shirts to work, now only once in a while to work to keep them on their toes!

Kentiki

I've got over 30, with a large proportion of them having Tiki designs on 'em. I go for the 60's 70's bark cloth type mainly, and the vast majority cost less than $10 as only a couple are brand new.

None are too ugly to wear in public, but a couple are too wierdly constructed to feel comfortable in, so they tend to sit at the back of the closet. The ones I wear most regularly are by Toes on the Nose. Perhaps that's a surf thing, but I actually find them very comfortable compared to some of the older Hawaiian bark cloths.

Trader Woody

Oh gosh, a couple hundred give or take. However, most of these I don't wear, and some are available for purchase - let me know if anybody's interested, but keep in mind that I live in the U.K. Some of these are rubbish, but most are vintage and made in Hawaii.

My personal stash: I got around 30 or so that I wear on a somewhat regular basis (as warmer weather approaches, I'm sure to start wearing my aloha shirts even more regularly).

My favorite present day brands are Sig Zane (a designer in Hilo Hawaii) and Reyn Spooner, especially the Dietrich Varez Collection by Reyn Spooner. Varez is a Big Island artist (wood prints and oil paintings) that Tiki Emi and I like so much that one of my Dietrich Varez Collection Reyn Spooner aloha shirts hangs in our guest bedroom (kimono style).

Hilo Hattie is another pretty good brand. Although, design quality varies - but their good stuff is really good!

My favorite old school brand is probably Malihini. With Kamehameha, Tori Richards, Tropically Yours and some Cook Street and Liberty House trailing along behind.

Also, I gotta admit that I like the 60s/70s Sears and J.C. Penney aloha shirts too - totally Brady style.

I bought a couple of shirts dirt cheap in thrift shops while in Hawaii that I seem to wear more often than others. If you ever make it to Hawaii, I definitely recommend rummaging through some thrift shops (try one's off the beaten track in say Wailuku on Maui).

:sheckymug: :sheckymug: :sheckymug: :sheckymug:
Tiki Chris

[ Edited by: Tiki Chris on 2002-05-10 04:40 ]

I only like cotton Aloha shirts and definitely prefer the graphics from the 60's and 70's. I like the bark cloth and heavy cotton (sort of a light canvas) that Sears and Penney's used. I probably have a few dozen shirts, but not all of them are for me. If I find a swell shirt at a good price (all but two of mine are junk shop finds) I buy it. The shirts I can't wear come in handy when Ordinary's come to the party (My sister had a Hawaian themed party and I put a rack of shirts on the porch so everyone was dressed appropriately). When I was younger I was more reserved in my dress, now I don't believe in a shirt that's too ugly to wear. Leave them laughing, even if they're laughing at you instead of with you.

I have maybe a dozen or so, and the majority of them I got at Target in the last few years. I like the more subtle stuff. Solid colors with embriodery or a small design. I do have one loudish, "Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii" style I like though.

I also have a BC Ethic, which is just their remake of a classic style. I have about 3 more of that style from Mexico and elsewhere now. The longer, straight bottom, low front pockets with embroidery on each breast area.

Then I have the varied thift store finds. The most I have paid for any of them was likely about $25 for the BC Ethic.

The one I won't wear I got at Walgreen's for $4. Seemed great for the price at the time. Now it's just ugly.

The real problem for me is foot wear. I have some deck shoes I wear. I hate sandles. It's tough. Around the beach I go barefoot or in aqua shoes.

You forced me to make a inventory of my collection and I counted 19 shirts. Some are vintage 60's and 70's but most are recent. My favorite is one that my wife made for me. She got the nap wrong, the nap is the direction the design on the fabric is suppose to go. This shirt has a fabric that has tropical fish swimming all over it , and the're all swimming upside down.
Tikiboy

I have about 10 shirts all of recent vintage. My favorite is a black shirt with a repeating pattern of a Scarlet Macaw and Blue & Gold Macaw on it. I found it at Parrot Jungle in Miami, but it is available online. We have a Scarlet Macaw named Mango which is one of the reasons I like it so much. My all time favorite was a gold Primo beer shirt my grandparents bought me when I was about 10 years old.

Mine would be a "custom" job I had made from a bolt of vintage cloth used in making cast member costumes from Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room. Red & white, and covered with stylized birds, and the logos for the Tiki Room & United Airlines. I also obtained another swatch of cloth - even cooler - covered with tiki room shields, natives with spears & tiki gods, but alas, it is too small a piece to make a shirt out of... Does anyone know if it is possible to "copy" swatches of cloth onto others, so I can make a whole shirt?

All you big Kahunas out there that have been trying to find that special size Aloha Shirt to add to your collection. Acatalogue came in the mail the other day from a company that makes large size clothes and they have about a dozen Aloha Shirts designs for sale in sizes L to 8XL. I haven't purchased anything before from this firm but check it out at:www.KINGSIZEDIRECT.com

I can't think of a specific number off the top of my head. I have the Hawaiian shirts in my closet divided into categories, the two main categories are new and vintage. within the vintage shirts their are subcategories by brands; kennington, Iolani, and miscellanious. Within the Iolani their are also subsubcategories; Iolani and Iolani executive.

The best Hawaiian shirt I got would have to be a tan Iolani Executive shirt I have with a tiki embroidered and barkcloth prints cleverly hidden under the collar and under these little things that button on shoulder (I don't know what you call them).

My tackiest shirt that I haven't had the balls to wear yet but plan on wearing to the Blue Hawaiians, APE show is an Iolani white button shirt with green leaf panels that go down both sides and a strap acorr the front of the shirt with a little buckle. Oh yes this shirt will make it out for the night, oh yes it will.

Favorite shirt that I don't wear as much because it is getting very worn and getting close to retirement is a keenington with green leaf patterns on the front and two big ass parrots on the back.

My dad turned 76 today. Several years ago my aunt tranfered a super 8 movie onto video. The film was of a party at my aunt's place. It was 1963. I was 2 years old. Everyone had a drink, everyone had a cigarette. Sinatra was king. My Dad was younger then, than I am now. He was wearing this cool old Hawaiian shirt, a simple indigo, green and black leaf patern with silver buttons with the likeness of King Kamehameha on them. When I was in high school, that shirt had long since been retired to the back of the old man's closet. I wore it 'till it was in shreds. He used to say, "Don't wear my shirt". I'd promise not to, but, I'd wear it anyway. Almost 40 years after that party, I still have the silver King Kamehameha buttons. That was a good shirt.
[ Edited by: alnshely on 2002-06-13 16:14 ]

[ Edited by: Alnshely on 2002-06-13 16:15 ]

[ Edited by: Alnshely on 2002-06-13 16:35 ]

[ Edited by: Alnshely on 2002-06-13 16:40 ]

I've got 20. My fave is one I got from Toes (used to do Bamboo stuff for them). It's off white, bark clothish and has tiki medallions on it. They sent the cloth to the sweat shop and when they got the shirts back, the medallions were upside down! A couple hundred!!! I'm wearing it Sat. at the Oasis. It's real funny I think.

I have almost twenty now, I make most of them myself. I try to track down suitable fabrics at the fabric store but the best are from when my parents go to Hawaii they bring me back some. They say there are stores there that have nothing but Hawaiian shirt material.

My most unusual are two (red and blue) promotional Hawaiian shirts made for A Very Brady Sequel that I got at a Thrift Store.

jeremy

OOoooops.
I just scored an O'neill from a friend who works there that never made it to production. It's the original! I don't understand why cause it's a killer print of Hawaiian war cheiftans and Wahines frolicking and surfing in between lots of shrubery and flowers.Off white with lots of greens. Score!

I say the UGLIER the BETTER! But not in the Tom Selleck/Jimmy Buffet way. I mean the "Postwar-booze-hound-sweep-it-under-the-rug-pinch-your-secretaries-behind-atomic-rockets-to-the-moon" way. If Danno and Greg Brady vomited in a pile and they printed a shirt from the results-I'd wear it.

I used to favor the traditional square, button front type but have been getting into the pullover style you see in 'cabana sets' with matching shorts. I refuse to pay more than $10.00 (ok $15.00) but somewhere I saw a copy of Elvis' orange shirt from 'Blue Hawaii' for $75 that tempted me.

I do not have any shirts but I do have three Reyn Spooner dresses. One Mele Kalikimaka / Christmas dress and two Tiki God dresses.

Every time I wear them people stop me and comment on "how, um... festive" they are.

I am up to about 60 shirts, some ugly, some to small, never to big, some are golf type but poly-knees-e-anne just the same. 15 are my favorites, 3 are newly signed Shag edition Toes on the Nose. My wife says it's the last one every time I get one or two or three. Have no brakes cannot stop.

I haved about 60 shirts that I also divide by catagories. I have about 15 that are tiki related, 10-15 that I would condider dress shirts and tha balance are of the assorted variety. My grandson Gage has about 25 shirts already with several that match PaPa's. He made sure to bring most of them out to the Oasis in Palm Springs. He is a BIG little tiki freak.

Trustar

I have about 25. None are too ugly to wear in public, but quite a few are too small. I wear about four or five regularly.

In the apartment I used to share with DaneTiki, we used my too-small Hawaiian shorts to decorate the walls.

I think I have about 12, my most prized came from when I went to Bali and managed to grab a real cool blue and red shirt with a tiki head print. (I got a real great carved head mask while I was there as well, most decidedly non tourist-y, a classic neutral Moai like expression on the face.) I mostly go for scenes or shirts with heads on them, only one or two pure pattern prints.