Hawaiian Shirt Print Styles

The great variety of designs are one of the things that makes Hawaiian shirts so interesting. There are thousands of different styles out there and you are bound to encounter designs that you will like and you will dislike. But despite the apparent chaos of the multitude of shirt designs, you can provide some organization to this apparent chaos. There are four basic pattern styles and five general print styles (which can be further broken down as desired).

Please note that a lot of books refer to "print" to indicate the general print layout of while I use the term "pattern". This is just my opinion, but I think pattern is a more descriptive term than print. To me, pattern refers to the general style of the design while print refers to the detail.

Pattern Style

Border Pattern
Border prints are shirts that have a vertically-oriented pattern. Many shirts of this type depict a contiguous border pattern that runs from the top of the shirt, down to the hem. The print may be solid lines, a string of flowers, bamboo, or anything that allows for an unbroken pattern. If you see an unbroken pattern running vertically down the shirt, that is a border print. 
 

Border Pattern (photo from Etsy)

Horizontal Pattern
Horizontal print shirts have a horizontal pattern that runs around the shirt, usually along the hem. The pattern may consist of just about anything, including solid lines, flowers, landscapes, etc. Some shirts may have vertical elements (e.g. a beach scene with palm trees sticking straight up), but these are not really border prints.

Horizontal Pattern (photo from Etsy)

All Over Pattern
As the name suggests, an All Over print has a print pattern that is distributed across the fabric, with no apparent pattern. Like all printed fabrics, there will be a repeat of the pattern after a certain point.

All Over Pattern (photo from Etsy)

Back Panel Pattern
Back Panel shirts dedicate the entire back of the shirt to a single design. These patterns seem to relatively rare. You find them more often with vintage shirts.

You can break down print styles to be as granular as you wish. Here are some higher-level style categories.

Back Panel Pattern (Photo from Vintage.Hawaiian-Shirt.net)

Print Style
You can break down print styles to be as granular as you wish. But here are some general print styles you will encounter. 

Hawaiian Motif
Hawaiian motifs are likely to be the most common patterns you will find. This style depicts any number of Hawaiian-specific themes including but not limited to tapa patterns, pineapples, flowers, bamboo, plants, tikis, etc. 

Photo Print
Photo prints are a print design that uses images of real places and people. Frequent motifs are Waikiki beach, Diamond Head, Hawaiian royalty (e.g. King Kalakaua), etc.. The images do not have to be literal photos and may include artworks of places and people.


Animal Motif
You will encounter shirts that have prints of fish, birds, even dragons. A lot of these designs are inspired by fauna that live in and around the Hawaiian Islands, although others have their origins in the Asian-origins of Hawaiian shirts (see more under Asian Motif).

Asian Motif
It is generally believed Hawaiian shirts originated in Asian tailor shops in Honolulu's Chinatown. The theory is that some tailors used surplus kimono fabric to fabricate the very first shirts. This fabric of had distinctly Asian themes (which may fall into one of the above print styles), and carried over as a common style in later shirts. You can find Hawaiian shirts with cranes, tigers, carp, Mount Fuji, etc. 

Other
An assortment of other styles exist including cocktails and tiki mugs. Hot rods seem to be styles more common on newer shirts. I've even seen football logos and Christian religious scenes. Whether these could be classified as "Hawaiian shirt styles" is debatable. I resist classifying any loud item of clothing as a "Hawaiian shirt", but I do realize this is how that term is used.

Hawaiian Shirt Hat Trick - Surf Line, Kona Kai Jantzen, and Sears Hawaiian Fashions

Christmas ended up happening on April Fool's Day for me, when I found three vintage Hawaiian shirts in a 2nd hand shop. This is the biggest single day, single location haul I've had so far.

Surf Line Hawaii

As I approached the clothing rack, one shirt jumped out. I've learned vintage shirts tend to have a richer color than new shirts - not brighter mind you, richer. I reached for this first and pulled out a dark blue and red shirt by Surf Line Hawaii. This item has four wooden buttons, vertical button holes, a collar loop, and a matching pocket. The shirt is made out of an unusual type of cotton. It is fairly coarse and heavy but it isn't broadcloth. The label is fully sewn in and there is also a fabric care tag (not a full label) on the inside of the left seam.

At first I wasn't able to find out much about Surf Line. The label didn't appear in any of my reference books but this brand does come up in some online stores. My shirt has a yellow script that reads "Surf Line" and Hawaii in blue block letters. The only decoration are stylized waves between the two lines of text. I came across a Surf Line for Liberty House shirt for sale that used a somewhat revised label design. There is also another label that reads Jam's Surf Line Hawaii, again using the same design as in my shirt, but with the "Jam's " name added. After a bit more searching, it all fell into place.

Surf Line started off as a surf shop located on Piikoi street in 1964. The owner was famous surfer Dave Rochlen. He began manufacturing clothing under the Surf Line name and they used the product name Jam's at least as early as 1965. Jam's clothing was originally inspired by loose fitting pajamas (pajamas, jammies, jams... get it?). The company is still in business today making all sorts of Hawaiian and surfer clothing.

So this brings up the interesting question of when this shirt was made. The four buttons are a telltale hint that the shirt is at least 1960s to 1970s (but obviously not earlier than 1964). The label itself appears to be made out of cotton and has an embroidery that seems to be 1960s. The cut and manufacturing almost seems like it is handmade, which could go counter to Surf Line Jam's later, large scale production. So taking everything into account, I would date this mid-1960s. Also, since Surf Line started out as a true surfer-oriented business, this might account for the heavyweight fabric of the shirt - the shirt needed to be rugged enough to stand up to frequent surf trips.

Kona*Kai Jantzen

The second shirt I picked off the rack was a beautiful green Kona Kai Jantzen, and it is my favorite of the three. The shirt is a soft cotton with five buttons, vertical button holes, fabric care label, and no collar loop. Jantzen started off as a swimwear company in 1916 and became well known for their logo of a bathing suit-clad girl in a diving pose. Jantzen later expanded to make an assortment of sportswear and ladies foundation garments. Jantzen also manufactured Hawaiian shirts but sorting out the details takes some explaining.

In 1950 Jantzen acquired a Hawaiian clothing manufacturer called Nani Sportswear. They sold clothing under the Nani label until 1964 when that name was retired. Jantzen also sold Hawaiian shirts under their standard brand. These shirts had a label that said "Jantzen" and had the diving girl, all surrounded by a stylized border. I wasn't able to conclusively determine when this label style was used, or if clothing under the Jantzen name was manufactured by Nani. 

Jantzen also sold clothing under the label Kona*Kai by Jantzen. It isn't clear if Kona*Kai was evolved from Nani or was just a name for a particular line of clothing. It does appear that Kona*Kai by Jantzen clothing was sold sometime between the latter 1960s into the 1970s. To complicate things further, there was a manufacturer called Kona Kai that made Hawaiian shirts for Sears. Kona Kai is a fairly popular name in Hawaii and I believe the brand and the manufacture are different.

Rather risque ad for Jantzen, circa 1960s.

I initially dated this shirt as 1970s due to the five buttons and the manufacture label that is stitched in on only one side (as opposed to being fully sewn in). But I've seen some online well known retailers date shirts with similar tags as 1960s. It does appear older but similar looking Kona*Kai Jantzen labels were fully sewn in, while later ones were sewn on only one edge. My guess is the shirt is from the latter 1960s to mid-1970s.

Sears Hawaiian Fashions

The last shirt is a barkcloth shirt with four buttons (one missing), vertical button holes, internal pocket, and collar loop. The shirt has a Sears Hawaiian Fashions label.

I have a creeping suspicion the buttons are not original to the shirt. The buttons are a smoke colored plastic type. Curiously the collar loop button is a mother-of-pearl color and doesn't match the front buttons. This may not normally be an issue since the collar loop button is not visible. But this button is sewn in with white thread while the front buttons are attached with black thread. Then again the factory that made the shirt may have just used standard thread/button color matching. It seems like extra work and cost, but maybe that is a reflection of quality work.

Sears sold Hawaiian shirts under a number of labels. Between the late 1940s to the early 1960s Sears sold shirts made by Burma Gold Handprints, Hoaloha, Kona Kai, and Lauhala. These shirts generally had a label that had the manufacturer name with something like "Made Exclusively for Sears". Sears ultimately had their own brand and I've seen labels that read "Sears Hawaii". 

Sears store in Honolulu

Whether Sears Hawaii is different than Sears Hawaiian Fashions is unclear but I believe they are the same. But both names used the orange and pink stylized flowers along with the Sears name.