Malikini for Liberty House Dresses

I found a lovely pair of vintage Hawaiian dresses, the second such find in three days. The dress are both from Malikini for Liberty House.

The first dress is a red and white pull-over dress. The second is a navy blue and white dress with a back zipper. The zipper is a nylon one. Both dresses have the same style of Malikini for Liberty House labels and they were obviously owned by the same person.

Red Malikini for Liberty House dress.

Blue Malikini for Liberty House dress.

 The labels seem to be of a more modern design than other Malikini labels I've seen. The stylized purple, black, and orange "M" is much more modern than the palm tree and hibiscus images seen on older labels. Both dresses are 100% polyester. So the zipper style, label design, and fabric strongly indicate a date of the 1970s.

Malikini Sportswear was founded just after World War Two and was located at 746 Ilaniwai Street in Honolulu. They opened a retail women's clothing store in the Moanalua Shopping Center in 1964. Liberty House was a retailer that began in the mid-1800s. By the mid-1960s there were three or four Liberty House stores in Hawaii. They expanded to the mainland in the early 1970s but encountered financial difficulties by the end of the decade. Liberty House was eventually acquired by the early 1980s.

Liberty House and assorted labels

I made a run today to see what I could unearth. I found a few items from the 1970s but nothing worth picking up. 

My first find was a Tori Richard for Liberty House shirt. Liberty House is one of the venerable vintage Aloha shirt labels, but the were still around at least until the early 1990s. And Liberty House opened Mainland stores in the 1970s, although all were closed by the end of the decade. I checked out this co-branded label and have found a pretty wide range of guesses. One Ebay seller had a shirt with the label and dated it early 1960s, which I think is waaaay off. The Museum of Hawaiian Shirts has a non co-branded version of the label as 1967, and another version (without the trademark symbol and with "Honolulu") as from the 1970s. My guess, based on the label configuration and patina of the shirt, I would agree with the 1970s date.

I found a second co-branded shirt for Liberty House. I couldn't discern the name of the manufacture: Mark Raynton, Mark Rayiton, or Mark Rayrton. I suspect the first, but I couldn't find anything about this guy. The shirt felt like it was 100% polyester, which would date it to the 1970s. The shirt also had four buttons, suggesting it is older than the 1980s. 

The fabric label was missing and I'm a bit wary about trying to discern polyester by touch. I picked up a Lauhala shirt that I first thought was polyester. The fabric had a shine to it and it felt rather slippery to the touch. But the fabric label did say 100% cotton and I suspect it is some kind of high-quality weave. From what I can tell, the polyester of the Liberty House shirt has a lighter weight to it than the cotton Lauhala.

This last shirt is new, but it highlights a potential risk to new collectors. The label has a retro look to it, but this shirt is not only vintage, it wasn't even made in Hawaii. Upon closer look, you can see this shirt was made in Pakistan. Labels can be tricky to master, so beware in relying on just the design of the label.

I wonder if the crescent moon on the label has anything to do with the fact this shirt was made in a Muslim country.