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Aloha shirts manufactured for local Hawai'i residents are often dull in tone, if not uniformly colored or color-coordinated, and are adorned with traditional Hawaiian quilt designs or simple plant patterns in muted, non-flashy colors. Aloha shirts manufactured for local consumption are considered formal wear in business and government. The shirt's origins are traced back to the early years of the Kingdom of Hawai'i upon the arrival of Congregational and Presbyterian missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands. These early Christian settlers from New England imposed strict dress codes on the native Hawaiians and forced many to wear quick-sewn shirts made of various fabrics available to the missionary seamstresses at the time. Modern Aloha Shirt The modern Aloha shirt was first manufactured commercially in the early 1930s by Chinese merchant Ellery Chun of King-Smith Clothiers and Dry Goods, a store in Waikiki. Chun began sewing brightly colored shirts for tourists out of old kimono fabrics he had leftover in stock. The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper was quick to coin the term Aloha shirt to describe Chun's fashionable creation. Chun trademarked the name. The first advertisement in the Honolulu Advertiser for Chun's Aloha shirt was published on June 28, 1935. Local residents, especially surfers, and tourists descended on Chun's store and bought every shirt he had. Within years, major designer labels sprung up all over Hawai'i and began manufacturing and selling Aloha shirts en masse. The popularity of the Aloha shirt boomed in the United States after World War II as major celebrities sported the Hawaiian wear. President of the United States Harry Truman wore Aloha shirts regularly during his tenure in the White House and in retirement. John Wayne and Duke Kahanamoku endorsed major designer labels while Bing Crosby, Arthur Godfrey and Johnny Weissmuller entertained while wearing them.

The Aloha shirt, often confused with the Hawaiian shirt by non-natives, is a style of dress shirt originating in Hawai. Often short-sleeved, Aloha shirts are brilliantly colored with floral patterns or generic Polynesian motifs and are worn as casual, informal wear.

Trade name for a polyester fibre. It blends well with other fibres, can be bleached and takes dye well. Used mainly in the manufacture of clothing, curtaining, furnishings, and fillings for pillows...

A generic term for the process of making a Quilt from beginning to end. Or the actual act of sewing the layers of a quilt together, either by hand or by machine. Also refers to the finished lines of...

a) The characteristic of the visual sensation that enables the eye to distinguish differences in its quality, such as may be caused by differences in the spectral distribution of light rather than by...

Astrakhan pelt of the newborn Persian lamb, used like fur in garments, and also the woolen fabric woven to resemble real astrakhan. The cloth is woven on a cotton base entirely covered by a pile of...

A type of running stitch composed of three stitches placed back and forth between two points. Often used for outlining because it eliminates the need for repeatedly digitizing a single-ply running...