Replica pre-war Hawaiian shirts?

[handymike]

so, like these?

 

[Guttersnipe]

Isn't a shirt from From Here to Eternity more likely to be from 1952 than 1941? Hollywood isn't known for its attention to period detail--especially in that time period.

The Hawaiian shirts used as wardrobe in From Here to Eternity were all supplied by Cisco Sportswear, which manufactured the Champion Duke Kahanamoku line of aloha shirts. The ones in the movie were actually all commercially available prints from the 1951(ish) catalog...

The problem here is that people are posting shirt patterns they like, but I'm looking for one that has a pattern that existed before the war...

...that said, because textile production for Hawaiian shirts was such a small cottage until the late 1940's, patterns tended to go in and out of production over the years, often times with little or no modification. Because of this, there are a few repop prints by Kona Bay and Sun Surf that will work for you. Check out the following:

"Pineapple" by both Sun Surf and Kona Bay. When Cisco made these, they were copying an earlier design that was poplar prewar. As an added bonus, Ernest Borgnine's character "Fatso" is wearing one of these when he gets knifed in Chinatown.
"Gauguin" by Sun Surf. Kamehameha's first run of these was in 1939.
"McGregor Ukulele" by Sun Surf. Again, this is a postwar design that used an existing prewar print which was only slightly modified.
Lastly, see of you can find an early 2000's Sun Surf with a boarder print; many of these are actually original designs inspired by late 30's/early 40's Kamehameha patterns.

Finally a note on cost: many of the links posted here are to vendors changing exorbitant markups. The MSRP for standard edition Sun Surfs is about $95 U.S., so even with shipping and duties, you'd be better off buying from Japan-based wed store.

 

[Tommy-VF51]

At the more affordable end of the spectrum:

https://avantishirts.com/collections/men?page=1

I haven't bought from here yet, but like some of the patterns.

Some of these have amazing patterns. Shame they're made in China and many of the plans I like are sold out in reasonable sizes.

P51 did you find what you're looking for yet?

 

[resortes805]

Guttersnipe for the win!

the fact of the matter is that the earliest aloha shirt designs are basically going to look like a pullover gaucho shirt, but with shirt tails; which no one has reproduced. So just get one of the Sun Surf's and be satisfied.

 

[David Conwill]

Speaking of "the earliest," check out this interesting shirt from 1921!

 

[Talbot]

Heckuva balancing act!

 

[David Conwill]

No idea if this is authentic or not, but when I came across this shirt on eBay this morning, I couldn't help but think it might be a good finding aide in this thread.

 

[VintageEveryday]

not sure if anyone's posted this yet http://hawaiianshirtdude.com/product-category/brands/avanti-vintage-hawaiian-shirt-replicas/