I just got back from a 1 week “work-cation” in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka & Kyoto). One morning I saw the host of a variety TV show wearing an Aloha shirt. It looked very familiar – almost exactly like a shirt we used to sell in our store. Here’s a screen shot I took with my video camera.
And here’s the shirt we used to sell that has since been discontinued. The only difference is the color and the fact that his is long sleeve.
This vintage print is a replica by Kamehameha Garment Company that specializes in reproducing old prints from the 1930s and 1940s. The fact that the TV guy in Japan was wearing a vintage style shirt is not surprising. In Waikiki, the vintage prints seem to be very popular with Japanese tourists, whose taste in shirts are different from Americans and other Westerners that visit Hawaii.
One a side note, many manufacturers copy each others designs. It’s all perfectly legal as long as the design is 10% different. That seems quite subjective to me. If you look closely at the shirt, you will notice the leaves that protrude out from the sides of the shirt are different.
Anyways, our trip to Japan was both fun and productive and I can’t wait for an excuse to go back and visit again!
