Hawaii-Made Aloha Wear Is A Surprising — And Lucrative — Cottage Industry….But as Hawaii’s garment workers age and retire, young aloha shirt and apparel makers must scramble to keep production in the islands.
Looking back to when he was starting his apparel company, David Shepard cringes. He thought nothing of asking established aloha shirt makers where they had their wares made.
Now Shepard says he’d never ask such a question – or share details of his supply chain.
“Never go to anyone and ask, ‘Who do you go to?’” he says. “It’s basically like going to a restaurant and asking, ‘What is your recipe?’”
Shepard’s comment highlights an often overlooked aspect of the start-up, made-in-Hawaii apparel business: there’s a substantial amount of manufacturing going on here. The small firms making things like aloha shirts, tote bags and pareos support an ecosystem of sewers, cutters and suppliers, some working out of fabrication facilities, others working out of their homes.
