Kai Palaoa Buttondown Aloha shirt

Sig Zane

This aloha shirt is by Sig Zane Designs, a company founded by Sig Zane and wife Nalani Kanakaole in 1985 in Hilo on Hawai'i Island.

The company seeks to share "the values of the Hawaiian people through art, by honoring the plants of the the islands, and providing a unique experience that is enhanced by teaching the symbolism of the Hawaiian name of the plant, and giving insight to other aspects of our lifestyle that will build upon the experience: all to express gratitude, appreciation, and compassion for allowing a life in this island environment along with the hosts of this culture."

Honouring the reefs

This shirt is named after Kai Palaoa, an ancient surfing area in Hilo. Many of Sig Zane's designs are similarly place-based.

'In Hilo at the Kaipalaoa Landing are the inviting coconut palms! The Eastern point where Wailuku River meets Hilo Bay was once a bustling pier, welcoming wa'a and whaling ships. It is the site where Kamehameha landed as he traversed the trails in Pī'ihonua. Famous too, are the stories of the surfing waves where the multitudes gathered! This design celebrates the iconic niu (coconut trees) that run from Kaipalaoa Landing through Hilo One and the Kumulipo, our chant of creation of the islands. The first lines of the chant illustrates the building of our islands, one coral polyp at a time, creating the shoal where the waves break and the fish gather.'

Sig Zane originally designed this shirt as a limited edition print in 2008 for the International Year of the Reef, an initiative designed to "raise awareness about the value and importance of coral reefs ... and to motivate people to take action to protect them". Sig Zane donated a percentage of the shirt's sales to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association's Hawaiian division.

Sig Zane, an avid surfer himself, wanted to remind people 'that while surfing is important we need to look after our coral reefs'.

The pattern is inspired by kapa (bark) cloth printed with 'ohe kapala (traditional bamboo stamps), and features a pattern of breaking waves along with the first 14 lines of Kumulipo, the creation chant for Hawai'i.

Co-collecting in Hawai'i

This shirt was acquired by Te Papa during a co-collecting trip to Hawai'i in 2017 based around the aloha shirt, and associated designs. Te Papa worked with Noelle Kahanu, a cultural specialist from the University of Hawai‘i, to develop an aloha shirt collection 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. Sig Zane selected this shirt for Te Papa's collection.

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