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The History of the Hawaiian Shirt | Innovation

Resources from Smithsonian Magazine

From kitsch to cool, ride the waves of undulating popularity of a tropical fashion statement

"Though its precise origins are lost to history, the aloha shirt first appeared in Hawaii in the 1920s or ’30s, probably when local Japanese women adapted kimono fabric for use in men’s shirting. The shirts achieved some popularity among tourists to Hawaii and found greater commercial success when they hit the mainland in the mid-1930s...

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