My husband, Sunburn Bob, has a nice collection of Hawaiian shirts. In fact most of them are rayon and are from Reyn Spooner. Reyn Spooner is a manufacturer who takes care in matching their pockets with the design on the shirt. They also make sure that both sides of the shirt match up too. They look nice.
They cost about $95 a piece now, if you buy them in the stores. (You can search for the same shirts a lot cheaper here.) Some are a little more and some a little less, but that’s the average cost. Nordstrom’s used to carry them, but they switched over to carrying Tommy Bahama. Tommy Bahama is bland, nothing exciting about their shirts. Plus, they are frequently sexist in their design. Meaning they show a lot of naked island girls, usually holding some sort of bottle of beer. Gee boys, what good is a naked, drunk woman printed on your back going to do for you? Think that shirt is a chick magnet? Think again.
Very Happy Hawaiian Shirt Babies by surlygirl
Please, Tommy Bahama isn’t a Hawaiian shirt. They are make-believe Hawaiian, and they are boring in their design, their colors, and the fabrics they make the shirts out of. Please, they are just the don't-rock-the-boat, what-will-other-people-think, faux-risque Polo shirt of the middle-aged set.
Reyn Spooner has some beautiful designs, and they are colorful and fun to look at, and often they are original designs from the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s. My husband and I took a trip in 1990 to Kauai, and he ended up buying about 15 Reyn Spooner or Kahala brand shirts. That's how he first got hooked.
They were and still are beautiful. In fact, he still has the original shirts and wears them frequently. It’s a shame to think we live in Southern California most of the time and in Hawaii part-time, but we rarely find any good Hawaiian shirts in SoCal. Well, it's not easy. We get many more and better shirts to chose from when we are in Hawaii. It’s Southern California; and you would think that it's a big enough market.
Anyway, this is a big reason why Sunburn Bob and (petite and charming) Sunscreen Bobette put together this little website to help all of you frustrated Hawaiian shirt buyers find what you want, even if its winter and you are freezing your keester in some far Northern clime.
And, since Sunscreen Bobette (that's me) cares a lot more about Hawaiian jewelry than she does Hawaiian shirts, she makes darn sure that you fine ladies can find a great selection here of Hawaii style jewelry, hibiscus jewelry, Honu jewelry, plumeria jewelry, fish hook jewelry, turtle jewelry, and other island jewelry. Ms. Bobette makes her daily fashion statement with lots of Hawaiian rings, bangles, and necklaces, but a more limited Hawaiian dress wardrobe. More limited in his approach to male jewelry, Sunburn Bob threatens to get a Hawaiian nose ring (we haven't found any, so it's a safe threat for him to make). However, he walks, runs, sits, and sleeps in his ever-present Aloha wear. Almost always rayon. Always loud. Always sunburned. My Bob. What a catch.
Every Christmas, I look in the stores for a new Hawaiian shirt for my sweet Sunburn Bob. I can usually find Reyn Spooner or another Hawaiian shirt brand name at some of the golf course pro shops. Ralph Lauren or Nautica used to make some nice colorful shirts too, but no more. Everyone has gone to being boring. I can’t even find some no name brand Hawaiian shirts for him or for myself.
I’ve looked at some of the vintage shops and resell stores with no luck. Most of them are way too expensive, or the clothing is not made very well. Usually, the pockets don’t match the design on the shirt, and sometimes the different sides of the shirt are going the wrong direction. What’s wrong with this world? (By the way, there is a small used clothing chain, Aardvarks, in SoCal, which is always worth a stop. Most of the time there is nothing, but one in four or five trips, there is a gem for 20 bucks. Worth the thrill. We started this little website in the depths of the credit-crisis-almost-depression, so saving a lot is the new middle class investment strategy.)
I still like shopping in the stores, because I'm a middle-aged mall rat and a beach bum rolled in one. But, it seem like things are heading in the direction of only buying our Hawaiian clothing and jewelry on-line and abandoning the stores altogether. If the store buyers don't have a clue, well, we do! Hope you like the site we put together. From a visual stand-point, it's throwback to a Sears catalog -- lots of pictures. However, it's spiffy digital and taps a huge real-time database of the best Hawaiian clothes and fashion jewelry that you can find on sale right now at great discount prices. God, I love to shop.
Anyway, I will stop whining now. Let's just relax and hang loose, well sun tanned Hula Girl!
Everyone wants to live in or visit a peaceful place and that is where you are now. I hope that you really like On Hawaiian Time. We try to provide a sense of the Hawaiian Islands, including coconut, tapa, waterfall, flower, kapa, and petroglyph Hawaiiana designs characteristic of ancient Hawaii.
We already show you lots of swell Hawaiian jewelry and shirts with great patterns and artwork. We are thinking about adding more Hawaiian style products, maybe some Hawaiian watches, including digital watches, analog watches, and wristwatch watchbands to measure that rather imprecise concept of Hawaiian time. Maybe in gold and silver. Maybe from Seiko or from another high quality manufacturer. We will keep you posted. We want to keep the themes focused on everything you love about the islands all the way from Oahu and Honolulu to the outer islands where time is much more slow-paced. This is natural for our subtropical climate, cool and warm breezes, and awesome ocean.
Concerning the shipping and handling policy, the merchants that you buy from will clarify whether the product is shipped via Fedex, UPS, or USPS and what shipping and handling charges will be applied to your order. For our privacy policy, it is simple. This site does not collect any information from you. We help you to find merchants to buy from, and you deal with them directly.