Hues of Orange Clothing

Orange colors stir-up more controversy than any other color. Hues of orange are often associated with Halloween and fall and the changing of the seasons. But in many cultures orange is considered to be a "joyous color", representing the aspect of happiness, which lifts ones spirits and stimulates both the man wearing it, as well as the casual observer.  

 

Orange is a extremely vibrant color that demands attention. It's associated with oranges, joy, sunshine, and the Hawaiian tropics, and represents intense and eager enjoyment, fascination, joy, creativity and determination. Garments such as orange Hawaiian shirts are a good example of combining all of those aspects into a wearable garment. Colors such as black, delft blue, cream or ivory, and denims match up well with orange.  

 

It's interesting that Halloween is associated with the color orange because outside of carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, the color really doesn't have much of a connection with the yearly celebration. We had mentioned that orange is symbolic of the tropics, but what we should have added is that comparison if further re-enforced when something like a shirt is teamed with foliage and a flock of parrots.

List of Hawaiian Stores in San Diego

I have come to the conclusion that much of the population in southern California really doesn't know the geographic boundaries of San Diego, or that North County businesses are still part of San Diego County.

If you look at any map of San Diego County you will see that it's borders extent all the way up to San Clemente, which then turns into Orange County. Having said that, I have decided to compile a small list of the known, as well as some little known stores that are Hawaiian themed. Some sell Hawaiian clothing, some sell food, some sell fresh flower leis. Some are predominantly Hawaiian and some are not.

• Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts, Downtown Escondido
• Green Tea Hawaii, Westfield North County Mall
• Hansen's Surf Shop, Encinitas
• Ohana Creations, Carlsbad
• Motu Hawaii, Pacific Beach
• Marukai Living, Kearney Mesa
• Island Hoppers, San Diego
• South Pacific Shore Hawaiian Clothing, National City (I didn't give them a link to their website because customers say they are never open).

There are probably a few other places like Wal-Mart, Target etc. that have some seasonal offerings that are Hawaiian, such as Home Depot sells Tiki statues and decoration during summer months.

But we prefer to shop the smaller mom and pop stores in San Diego County because without our continues support they will be gone.

You can also find Hawaiian products such a imported shirt, leis and trinkets in many of the surf shacks that dot the beach communities and boardwalks.


Mahalo

Wholesale Madness: Act I

I was lamenting about the early days of our Hawaiian shirt business, we even had a few individuals tell us that the idea of going into retail and manufacturing was pure madness, but we went through with it anyway. I would love to tell you that the retail sales launched our bustling business, but that wouldn't be the whole truth.

Sure we had enough online orders to wet our whistle, but it was the small orders that we sold in bulk, and at a narrow profit margin mind you, that really moved us forward. We also quickly realized that the term wholesale had different meanings to different people. To us, buying wholesale meant purchasing a container or semi trailer full of garments. To others it meant that anyone with a business license should be able to buy a dozen or so shirts at the same discounts they get from their vendors.

We once took the large purchase route with a purchase of Hawaiian leis, we shared as container coming to port in Los Angeles. Let me tell you that we were not sure if we had the room to store pallets of them, nor did we know they would start degrade over time. We just couldn't phantom the logistics needed to do that with Hawaiian shirts, plus we were leaning towards making them in the USA.

In the end we took the middle ground and manufactured Hawaiian shirts with our Wave Shoppe label here on the mainland and cut a deal with a Oahu based Hawaiian shirt company to manufacture and sew our camp shirt style shirts, that way we could offer our customers Hawaiian shirts wholesale.

For the finicky customer we could offer camp shirts made in Hawaii and even more sophisticated button-up Hawaiian shirts that were made on the mainland, which also opened up additional shipping options. Customers were pleased and we are still here 10 years later.

Mahalo

Famous Men in Tacky Hawaiian Aloha Shirts

When it comes to wearing tacky Hawaiian shirts it's a mans world, few things bring out the Aloha in a man than a brightly colored button up shirt with big bold colors and tropical flowers representing the Hawaiian islands.

Throughout the years countless numbers of people have visited Oahu, the big island of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai etc. and the male visitors have always had one common thread (pardon the pun) with that being they all wore colorful often tacky Hawaiian shirts.

Whats tacky you say? For starters how about a mens Hawaiian shirt with beer bottles or even something really sick looking like the official ugly Hawaiian shirt from Wave Shoppe.

Be it a tropics loving man from Nebraska or famous people like the Tom Selleck and Will Pharrell, just about everyone has worn one at least once.

Being a guy myself I still can not tell you what it is about these shirts that I find so attractive.

In a lot of foreign countries the women associate flowery shirts on men as an indicator that they are gay, though I assure you that flowery shirts are a very poor indicator of your sexuality.

In my opinion the real reason men wear these styles of shirts is that they work a lot of hours with little time to just kick back and relax.

Wearing shirts with tropical flowers and palm trees etc. often has a Zen like effect that creates a direct connection between the man and the Hawaiian islands