Hawaii: Bet your shirt on Hattie's
By James Shrimpton
The woman behind Hilo Hattie's was singer-dancer Clara Haili.
When you're out shopping in Hawaii, it's pretty hard to avoid Hilo Hattie's. From a modest beginning on the island of Kauai in 1963, this maker and retailer of "aloha" wear has spread around the islands and to the US mainland, with nearly 2.5 million customers a year.
Customers include people sailing around the islands in cruise ships, as well as those holidaying in Hawaii.
Hilo Hattie's flagship store in Honolulu has the state's largest selection of Hawaiian fashions: shirts, dresses, beachwear, swimmers, jewellery and souvenirs. It's at 700 North Nimitz Highway on the western, airport side of Honolulu around 8km from Waikiki. A fleet of free trolleys takes holidaymakers there from the beach area.
Waikiki shops and market stalls offer a choice of brightly coloured "aloha" shirts at US$20 ($27) for a half-dozen, but they're cheap stuff from China and elsewhere overseas.
If you want gear made in Hawaii you go for the Hilo Hattie label. The "real thing" is dearer but you pay for quality.
Apart from clothes there's a variety of Hawaiian lollies, CDs of Hawaiian music, books and gifts including jams, coffee and boxes of macadamia nuts.
The original woman behind the company was a popular singer-dancer (real name Clarissa "Clara" Haili), who started as a schoolteacher then went into show business under the name Hilo Hattie.
She popularised comic hula-style music, with such tunes as Princess Pupule Has Plenty Papayas and The Cock-Eyed Mayor of Kaunakakai.
Clara died in 1979 aged 77 but her stage named lived on through the Hilo Hattie retail enterprise.
The Honolulu HQ includes a $7 million, 7432sq m showroom and the larger of the firm's two manufacturing plants.
Other Hilo Hattie outlets are at the giant Ala Moana shopping centre closer to Waikiki, on the islands of Maui, Kauai and Hawaii, at San Diego in California, Las Vegas in Nevada and Orlando in Florida.
The company, which has won many tourism, retailing and fashion awards, has its own mail order catalogue and website (HiloHattie.com).
In the lobby of the main Honolulu store is what the Guinness Book of Records has declared the world's largest aloha shirt, measuring 4.72m around the chest, 4.1m at the waist and more than 1.52m around the neck.
Koa wood drink coasters were used as buttons and it took nearly 24m of fabric to create the shirt - size 400XL.
The company claims 13 sumo wrestlers could be fitted for the amount of material making up the shirt.
The woman behind Hilo Hattie's was singer-dancer Clara Haili.
When you're out shopping in Hawaii, it's pretty hard to avoid Hilo Hattie's. From a modest beginning on the island of Kauai in 1963, this maker and retailer of "aloha" wear has spread around the islands and to the US mainland, with nearly 2.5 million customers a year.
Customers include people sailing around the islands in cruise ships, as well as those holidaying in Hawaii.
Hilo Hattie's flagship store in Honolulu has the state's largest selection of Hawaiian fashions: shirts, dresses, beachwear, swimmers, jewellery and souvenirs. It's at 700 North Nimitz Highway on the western, airport side of Honolulu around 8km from Waikiki. A fleet of free trolleys takes holidaymakers there from the beach area.
Waikiki shops and market stalls offer a choice of brightly coloured "aloha" shirts at US$20 ($27) for a half-dozen, but they're cheap stuff from China and elsewhere overseas.
If you want gear made in Hawaii you go for the Hilo Hattie label. The "real thing" is dearer but you pay for quality.
Apart from clothes there's a variety of Hawaiian lollies, CDs of Hawaiian music, books and gifts including jams, coffee and boxes of macadamia nuts.
The original woman behind the company was a popular singer-dancer (real name Clarissa "Clara" Haili), who started as a schoolteacher then went into show business under the name Hilo Hattie.
She popularised comic hula-style music, with such tunes as Princess Pupule Has Plenty Papayas and The Cock-Eyed Mayor of Kaunakakai.
Clara died in 1979 aged 77 but her stage named lived on through the Hilo Hattie retail enterprise.
The Honolulu HQ includes a $7 million, 7432sq m showroom and the larger of the firm's two manufacturing plants.
Other Hilo Hattie outlets are at the giant Ala Moana shopping centre closer to Waikiki, on the islands of Maui, Kauai and Hawaii, at San Diego in California, Las Vegas in Nevada and Orlando in Florida.
The company, which has won many tourism, retailing and fashion awards, has its own mail order catalogue and website (HiloHattie.com).
In the lobby of the main Honolulu store is what the Guinness Book of Records has declared the world's largest aloha shirt, measuring 4.72m around the chest, 4.1m at the waist and more than 1.52m around the neck.
Koa wood drink coasters were used as buttons and it took nearly 24m of fabric to create the shirt - size 400XL.
The company claims 13 sumo wrestlers could be fitted for the amount of material making up the shirt.
posted by ams at 2:08 PM
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