The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands

By Dale Hope

Book Overview

The most colorful and complete book published on the most enduring souvenir ever invented: the Hawaiian shirt. Beautifully illustrated with hundreds of images, this book recounts the colorful stories behind these marvelous shirts: as cultural icons, evocative of the mystery and the allure of the islands, capturing the vibe of the watermen culture and lifestyle -- casual, relaxed, and fun. Valued by professional collectors and by millions of vacationers and fashionistos, these shirts are enjoying a fashion revival. Drawing from hundreds of interviews, newspaper and magazine archives, and personal memorabilia, the author evokes the world of the designers, seamstresses, manufacturers, and retailers who created the industry and nurtured it from its single-sewing-machine-shop beginnings to an enterprise of international scope and importance and its revival today. The Aloha Shirt is both a dazzling, fun-to-browse art book, and a fascinating chronicle of the world's love affair with Hawaii.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1938340566
• ISBN13: 9781938340567
• Release Date: June 2016
• Publisher: Patagonia
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 3.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 8.0" x 11.1"

Customer Reviews

If everyone wore aloha shirts, there'd be no war...

If Hawaii or the aloha shirt has ever gladdened your heart, you'll want to own THE ALOHA SHIRT. Dale Hope conveys the TRUE SPIRIT (colorful, soft, peaceful, flowing) of the Hawaiian Islands by presenting both the fascinating history of the aloha shirt and 500 or so beautiful illustrations. These illustrations are so varied and exquisite that you'll get high just by perusing them. They also help you see how the aloha shirt can be an art form in and of itself. Hopefully, this book will inspire people to wear their aloha shirts more often -- not just when they visit Hawaii -- and to buy the new ones that are being created by the best artist designers.

Profusely and beautiful illustrated

Dale Hope grew up in the Hawaiian garment industry, taking over his father's clothing business at the age of 26. As the art director of Kahala Sportswear, Hope oversees the creation and manufacturing of 150 new Aloha shirt designs annual. In The Aloha Shirt: Spirit Of The Islands, Hope collaborates with writer Gregory Tozian to offer a magnificent, coffee-table artbook dedicated to the history of the unique and famous Hawaiian shirt style. This impressive treatise covers the history of Hawaiian clothing, the evolution of the tailor shop into the modern clothing factories, the designers, textiles, printmakers, and retailers that made the Hawaiian "aloha shirt" famous around the world. There are chapters focusing on Duke Kahanamoku, celebrities, shirt makers of the 60s, labels and buttons, and aloha shirt collectors. Profusely and beautiful illustrated, the text is informative, at times fascinating, and highly recommended for students of American clothing history and fads in general, and Hawaii's contributions to the garment industry and American popular culture in particular.

The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands

The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands is unique, as a historical and artistic book documenting the Aloha shirt, from its historic beginnings as a cottage industry, to the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. This definitive text has been extensively researched, with textile artists, designers, garment manufacturers and their families and friends all contributing to the consistency of the history as researched by Dale Hope. An educational and artistic book bringing over 500 aloha shirts with their Hawaiian inspired origins paralleled with the history and times of Hawaii. For those who have memories of Hawaii, and for those who share their memories to others, this elegant coffee table book is a "must have" for all!

Dale Hope:Master of Color and Design, Hawaiian Style

To experience the fragrance,tactile pleasures and balmy breezes of the Hawaiian Islands, I recommend owning The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of The Islands. Dale has magically captured Hawaii's essence with his life long love of the true spirit of aloha ,having lived his entire life in the Islands.This book is a glimpse into an intuitive journey taking 10 years to complete and is now available for all of us to enjoy.The result is fresh,yet ancient and timeless by honoring the Spirit of The Islands. Enjoy the same free falling exhilaration that Dale , surfer and paddler, feels in the warm Pacific Ocean by taking in the colors and perfect design of this book.It is more than words and visuals as you will feel as soon as you open the front cover.Aloha!

The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands

Congratulations Dale and Gregory, you have written a story that has never been told. This new book, filled with rare photos of beautiful vintage Hawaiian shirts is more than coffee table reading. For all vintage clothing dealers and collectors it is considered required text. It is the written history of Hawaii's own fashion icon to the world, the "Hawaiian Shirt." From its roots in Polynesian prints, to it's birth in Honolulu's Chinatown, Dale shares the stories, lives and legends of "Who's Who" in this slice of time in Paradise. We give it five stars and consider it the best book on the subject! Mahalo Dale for all your work. Aloha, Larry Craig, owner of Locals Only Vintage Clothing