Aloha shirt

HRH

This polyester aloha shirt bears the label 'HRH / His Royal Highness / Hawaii'.

The HRH brand was established by Dale Hope in the 1973, when he began working for his parents Honolulu-based company, Sun Fashions. At the time Dale couldn't relate to the women's wear that the company was producing, so asked his father if he could make a line of men's aloha shirts. He got the go ahead, and named the brand HRH after his father - Howard Robert Hope.

Hope later acquired the rights to use the Kahala Sportswear brand, and in the late 80's and changed the company's name to 'Kahala by HRH'.

Dale Hope went on to author several books on the history of aloha shirts including The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands, Patagonia (2016).

HRH at McInerny's

Many Hawaiian aloha shirts have two labels sewn into them - the maker's label, and the retailer's label - in this case "McInerny's / Since 1850 / Hawaii.'

McInerny's was established by Patrick Michael McInerny, a ship carpenter from Ireland, in downtown Honolulu. By the middle of the 20th century, McInerny's had become one of Honolulu's major department stores, the other being Liberty House.

Co-collecting in Hawai'i

This shirt was acquired by Te Papa during a co-collecting trip to Hawai'i in 2017. Te Papa worked with Noelle Kahanu, a cultural specialist from the University of Hawai‘i, to develop collection of aloha shirts that reflects the ways in which Hawaiian culture has been historically represented, and misrepresented, through the aloha shirt, and the ways in which contemporary native Hawaiian designers are utilising the aloha shirt to communicate indigenous cultural values.

This shirt was purchased from Barrio Vintage Honolulu. The store specialises in vintage Hawaiian clothing from the 1950s to 1970s, and caters to customers in search of unique garments.

Te Papa’s co-collecting programmes are guided by the principle of mana taonga – the sharing authority with stakeholder communities.