Indoor Photoshoot

This past weekend we held our first major photoshoot of 2013. This time, rather than having it at a beach like we normally do, we had it indoors. The weather has been unusually windy and rainy since mid-December making planning an outdoor photoshoot difficult and risky. We’ve pushed our normal early-year beach shoot to April or May.

We experimented with a green screen backdrop so we have some flexibility on how we use the pictures. And it also served as a test bed for us to get used to this type of thing for future projects under development. Although it was a learning experience, we had fun as you can see in the video below.

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How Your Hawaiian Dress (or shirt) is Made

Nowadays it is pretty hard to find clothing that’s made in USA. But here in Hawaii, the garment manufacturing industry is still going strong. Over the past few decades, most garment manufacturing shifted to overseas factories in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and other places. The biggest advantage of overseas production is labor cost. The biggest disadvantage is having to buy shirts and dresses in huge quantities and stocking expensive inventory. In recent years, the cost of labor has gone up considerably in places like China. While it is still cheaper to manufacture Aloha shirts and dresses in China, the lower cost per unit is offset by having to buy them by the hundreds, or even thousands. So rather than tie up so much money in inventory, companies stock their fabric in local warehouses and simply get by with smaller and more frequent production runs. This allows them to respond quickly to market demands and tastes.

The production techniques here in Hawaii have not changed much sine the first aloha shirts appeared in Honolulu in the 1930s. Fabric is still rolled onto cutting tables and cut by electric blades. Shirts are still individually sewn with a sewing machine. The biggest change is in how the fabric patters are designed. Computers and design software makes it much easier and faster to create designs, make revisions and control color than in decades past. But as far as the actual shirt manufacturing process is concerned, a modern Hawaiian dress factory looks very similar to ones from half a century ago.

Most of the shirts, dresses and muumuus we sell are made in Hawaii. A few items are imported like some kid’s clothing, bags and some muumuu prints. But chances are, if you buy a muumuu, Hawaiian dress, or aloha shirt form us you’ll see the “Made in Hawaii” tag and your item will be made as shown in the video.
 

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New Hawaiian Tube Sundress with Optional Straps

We just added a few new Hawaiian tube sundresses just in time for your next summer party. These rayon sundresses come with a stretchy smocked top for an easy and comfortable fit. The v-straps can be tied behind the neck or hidden for a strapless look.

- 100% rayon
- stretchy smocked top
- easy to wear, comfortable fit
Made in Hawaii

Front, side and rear view of tube Hawaiian dress with optional strap.

 

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Sarong Wrap Hawaiian Dresses

Hawaiian wrap and sarong dresses

Hawaiian dresses with a mock sarong front wrap with elastic back and adjustable straps combine the best of both worlds, flattering look and easy to fit convenience and comfort.

The biggest question shoppers have when shopping for dresses online is “how will this thing fit on me?” Sizing information can only go do so much. Since everyone is shaped just a little bit different, what fits nicely one person may not fit nicely on someone else in the same size. One way around this is to make sizing and fitting more forgiving of different body types through the use of elastic waists or backs and adjustable straps. Sometimes, however, these features adversely affect the fit of the dress. It might feel okay, but it’ll look funny.

These sarong wrap Hawaiian dresses are one of the better ones that we’ve seen that combine the best of both worlds. They are easy to fit and they still look flatteringly feminine. And the way that the mock sarong falls when tied makes the dress look even more tropical with just the right amount of sass.

We currently have 8 dresses in our store to choose from, including the forever popular Jungle Bird (Magnum PI) print and the subtle Bamboo Paradise, both of which are available in matching men’s Hawaiian shirts.

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Beach House Aloha Wear Photo Shoot (video)

Hawaiian clothing photo shoot group picture

Photo shoots are fun but they aren’t easy. It always takes a lot more planning and coordination than expected, no matter how many time we do it. Lucky for us, Geralyn at Hokuli’i Images has been our primary shoot photographer since we opened for business back in 1999. She’s fun, reliable and good at making the models feel relaxed, which is especially important if they’ve never worked together before. And it also helps to have a Talent Coordinator like Chad who can call upon many people to find the small handful of models that are available on the date of the shoot. And it especially helps to have someone like Robert who can pull small miracles by securing an awesome beach house on short notice. When everything comes together (and it somehow always does) we end up with a productive photo shoot that feels more like play than actual work. It’s not a bad way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning!

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Magnum PI Summer Dresses

For years, Paradise Found’s Jungle Bird “Magnum PI” Aloha shirt has been a top seller. Besides Magnum PI fans, other people order the shirt around October, presumably for use as a Magnum PI costume. If you are one of those people, email us a pic! We’d love to see all you Halloween Magnum PIs out there! But the shirt is also available in several matching dresses. We already have one of them available online in our matching set section and we’ll add the two shown in the picture above in the coming days.

Magnum PI Jungle Bird print Hawaiian Summer Dresses

Tom Selleck's aloha shirt in Magnum PI is the Jungle Bird print by Paradise Found. This print is also available in a variety of Hawaiian dresses.

And while we’re on the topic of Magnum PI, what a great show! It had action. It had humor. It had scenery. It had it all. It even had a cool song and an exciting intro. At the very end of the show’s intro, you see Magnum wearing the Jungle Bird shirt.

 

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2012 Beach House Photo Shoot

It’s been a very long time since our last real photo shoot and we were way overdue for a new one. Since we usually shoot at the beach, we thought we’d try something a little different this time around. When a friend told us he might be able to get a large beach house, we thought that would be perfect!

Except on thing. We had to use it in the near future and the weather was very windy and rainy.

messy beach after stormy weather

The beach was filled with debris from the recent and ongoing stormy weather a few days before the shoot.Since we had little choice in the scheduling of the beach house, we just had our contact book it and we also booked the photographer. Next up was to scout the beach house to get some ideas on how and where we'd shoot.

 

Laie beach house porch

Though the beach was messy, the beach house porch showed much potential as a shoot setting.

Since we needed a photo shoot and didn’t know when another opportunity to shoot a beach house would arise, we rolled the dice and booked the house through a friend and also booked the photographer. We figured that if the weather was bad, we could at least still shoot indoors and on the porch so the day wouldn’t be a total loss.

On the day of the shoot, the weather was perfect! Sunny with a slight breeze. Geralyn, our longtime photographer, set up her stuff and was ready to go. After unloading a carload of food and stuff from Costco, we were ready to shoot.

The porch proved to be a versatile setting for some of the scenes as it also blocked some of the wind from being a factor. But we also took advantage of other settings around the house like the beach, the front yard and patio, and even the living room.

Hawaiian beach wedding dress and shirt

What a different a few days make! This shot of Mika and Steve in wedding attire turned out better than we expected just a few days before.

 

Hawaiian wedding dress bridesmaids

Jaime, Mika and Nikki joke around before the next scene.

 

Models sitting on porch awaiting directions from photographer

Mika, Jaime, Steve and Nikki line up for the next shot as Geralyn gives them directions on where to sit.

 

indoor luau photo

The models celebrate the shoot with a toast. The cups were empty and the umbrellas were taped to the cups because our pineapples fell apart.

 

models playing with coconut

The front of the house had a huge lawn where the models tossed around a coconut and played horseshoe toss.

While Geralyn and the models did their thing, Robert and Dean were cooking up a storm at the grill, making steak, burgers and other stuff for lunch for everyone after the shoot.

Overall the shoot went better than expected. Just a few days before, the weather was unusually rainy and windy and had been for a several weeks. Lucky for us, the weather cleared up the morning of the shoot and was good just long enough for us to finish the shoot. It rained the next day. But at least we got to hang out at the beach house and relax and enjoy the soothing sights and sounds of beach afterwards. It wasn’t a bad way to spend a weekend.

beach Aloha wear photo shoot cast and crew

Special thanks to Geralyn and her assistant for taking the pictures, the models for being professional and fun, Chadwin the talent coordinator, and to Robert and Dean who cooked an awesome steak, hamburger and hotdog lunch for everyone!

So that’s pretty much the gist of what went into our beach house photo shoot. We also just had an indoor studio shoot which we’ll share with you in an upcoming post.

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18 New Girls’ Summer Dresses

We just added 18 new girls’ Hawaiian summer dresses. These spaghetti strap dresses come in sizes 2 through 14 and are 100% cotton.

a few of the 18 new girls' Hawaiian summer dresses

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New Matching Shirt & Dress Set

We just added a new matching set of men’s shirts and women’s dresses and muumuus in the Kalakaua print. There are 4 different dress/muumuu styles to choose from, although only 3 are shown below.

Kalakaua matching men's shirt and women's dresses and muumuus

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7 New Spaghetti Flounce Dresses

We just added 7 new dresses to our store. These new flounce dresses have adjustable spaghetti straps and are made in Hawaii. 4 of them come in matching men’s Hawaiian shirts and other dress styles.

hawaiian dresses with spaghetti straps and flounce

New Hawaiian Dresses with Spaghetti Straps & Flounce

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