Happy Unofficial 75th Birthday, Aloha Shirt

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  07.25.11 | 2:25 PM ET

Laura Bly explains why July is a significant month for the aloha shirt, unofficially.

Though Honolulu tailor Ellery Chun trademarked the term in the 1930s, the garb gained official visibility in 1947, when the city’s chamber of commerce amended an earlier resolution allowing open-necked shirts during the summer to specifically include the aloha shirt and its loud, colorful patterns. Celebrities from Elvis Presley to Tom Selleck were enthusiastic ambassadors, and soon every Hawaiian tourist worth his plastic lei was bringing one back as a souvenir of paradise.

One man who helped popularize aloha shirts, Alfred Shaheen, died in 2009.



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