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Governor proclaims 2000
Year of the Aloha Shirt

Aloha shirt always in fashion
Great for company uniform

By Cynthia Oi
Star-Bulletin

At the urging of the Hawaii's Fashion Industry Association, Gov. Ben Cayetano has proclaimed the year 2000 "The Year of the Aloha Shirt."

The governor also has proclaimed 2000 "The Year of the Canoe" in honor of the Native Hawaiian navigators, says spokesman Wally Inglis. Those are the only year-of proclamations that have been issued so far, Inglis says, "but that doesn't preclude others if they come up."

OK. Back to the shirts.

In a news release, the fashion industry says the "aloha shirt has captured the essence of aloha and symbolizes Hawaiian warmth and friendliness."

Weighty matters for a simple garment.

But aloha shirts have a history, according to the industry:

In July 1936, shirtmaker Ellery J. Chun, who died last month, first registered the term "aloha shirt" and began mass-producing them for his King-Smith Store in downtown Honolulu.

Hollywood movies popularized the shirts in the 1940s and '50s when such stars as Montgomery Cliff, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra wore them on the silver screen. In 1951, President Harry Truman was photographed for the cover of Life magazine wearing an aloha shirt.

In 1966, the Hawaiian Fashion Guild convinced Bank of Hawaii officer Willie Cannon to allow employees to don aloha wear on Fridays, thus the advent of Aloha Fridays.

The acceptance of Hawaii's casual dress style in the work place was the forerunner of "casual Fridays" on the mainland, according to Linda Arthur, University of Hawaii professor and author of a new book, "Aloha Attire: Hawaiian Dress in the Twentieth Century."

"We started it," Arthur says.

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