Inventor of the Hawaiian shirt dies
Monday, January 5, 2009
metro.co.uk

Alfred Shaheen, who was credited with inventing the Hawaiian shirt,
has died.

You'd be forgiven for never hearing of designer Alfred Shaheen.
Yet he inspired one of the most colourful, amusing and unforgettable
styles of fashion ever known - the Hawaiian shirt.

Sadly the pioneering textile manufacturer has died at age 86, his
family have confirmed.


As tourists from the US to Hawaii after World War II, many began to
bring home colorful but cheesy looking shirts and sundresses that
would be cause for much amusement among friends.

Shaheen began to change that in 1948 when he opened Shaheen's of
Honolulu and began designing, printing and producing "aloha" shirts,
dresses and other ready-to-wear clothing of better quality.

Among those seen in Shaheen-designed shirts of that era was Elvis
Presley, who wore one for the cover of his 1961 soundtrack
album "Blue Hawaii."

Such Shaheen originals now sell for more than £500

"Before Shaheen came along, there was no Hawaii garment industry.
There were mom and pop stores but no real modern industry," Linda
Arthur, a professor of textiles and clothing at Washington State
University said.

By 1959, the year Hawaii became a state, he had more than 400
employees working for him and was grossing more than $4 million a
year as the major player in the islands' garment industry.