Recently I have had a large number of big guys coming into my store asking me if I carried lava-lavas’ for men. I have always replied I have sarongs and most of those guys browsed the sarong section and then quickly left the store. Last week yet another man came in and he took a look at my sarongs and as he was headed for the door I politely asked him if he could spend a minute or two letting me know exactly what the difference was between sarongs and lava lavas.
He told me he was a Samoan and that the men wore lava-lavas. We spent the next 15 minutes discussing lots of interesting things about the Samoan culture including the shortage of quality lava-lava found in our growing Samoan population here in North County. The main difference between our sarongs and lava-lava is that a true lava-lava is not just a piece of material that does not look too feminine, nor should it have any tassels hanging off of them. Lava-lava is just a piece of material that is folded and tucked in at the waist. The sarongs we carry in our store are brightly colored (like our Hawaiian shirts) and more suitable for a luau or as a cover -up for a swimsuit. But for use a lava-lava my friend told me it is considered “too frilly” for a Samoan looking for a lava-lava.
He also let me know that Samoans have 2 kinds of lava- lava one is for daily use which they fold at the top to keep in place and the other is a more formal lava-lava that has a built in tie at the top to secure the lava-lava in place the one I was showed was of a sea green color and not a flower in sight. I was informed that the Samoan people have strong ties to their family, community, culture and church and that they dress accordingly so it was important to have formal lava-lava for formal occasions. It was such an interesting conversation that it got me motivated to share this information with our customers and to research the history of the sarong. Continue reading Men Wear Lava Lava's
