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.