How Hawaiian Dresses are Made

When most people receive their Hawaiian dress or shirt order in the mail, they do so thousands of miles away from Hawaii and probably do not think too much about what went into making it. The truth is most of our Hawaiian dresses are still designed, cut, and sewn right here in Hawaii. Here's a quick overview of how our Hawaiian dresses are made.
 
Hawaiian dress and shirt patterns
 
One of the key components is the Hawaiian dress pattern. Pictured at left is a Hawaiian shirt pattern. Each of the shapes represent a different part of the dress to be cut and and sewn into the final product. Many dresses come in six sizes (XS-2XL) and therefore requires one pattern for each size.

 
The other main component is the fabric. Professional graphic artist specialists create custom designs for each manufacturer who will typically own the rights to use that design. Once a design is approved they files are sent to a fabric manufacturer who creates samples for review. Once those samples are approved, thousands of yards per designs (in different colors) are made and sent to the manufacture in 60-yard rolls.

 
Before the dresses are made, they must be cut. The rolls of Hawaiian fabric are laid out carefully one layer at a time. Usually twenty to forty layers of fabric are laid on top of each other. The patterns are placed on top of the stack and an ultra-sharp electric knife used by a skilled technician to cut out the shapes. One mistake here would be very costly as it would render the entire section of fabric useless. The bundles of Hawaiian dress parts are sent out to sewing specialists. Quite often on sewing company specializes in a particular dress style requiring the manufacturers to work with many such companies to support their product line.

 
When the finished Hawaiian dresses (and shirts) are received by the manufacturer they still may require some finishing touches. Shirts may need buttons sewn on and all garments need to be ironed and prepped for delivery to our fulfillment center. From there they are shipped to our eagerly awaiting customers around the world.