Where to Get Awesome Vintage-Style Hawaiian Shirts and Dresses for Swing Dancing

For years, I’ve been looking in vain for Hawaiian shirts to wear to Swing dance events. All of the Hawaiian shirts at the mall looked too modern to me, so I was left combing through racks of shirts at vintage clothing stores. I found a few that were OK there, but none that blew me away.

Then, during our trip to Maui in 2024, we took some time to look for proper Hawaiian wear. First, we hit up an upscale mall, The Shops at Weilea. They had tons of clothing stores full of beach wear. “Surely there would be something I liked”, I thought.

But, after going through every store, some of which had racks of Hawaiian shirts, I left empty-handed. Their Hawaiian shirts looked too modern to me. I thought, if I can’t find Hawaiian shirts I liked at these stores in Hawaii, there was no hope!

The Breakthrough

During the rest of our trip, we hit up some smaller mom-and-pop souvenir-type stores and that’s where I struck gold. Usually, I dismiss these type of stores as selling touristy junk, but I actually found lots of great Hawaiian shirts there! These did not scream “modern”, they seemed authentic, and were perfect for Swing dance events.

Basically, there were two brands that I really liked: Royal Hawaiian Creations and Aloha Republic, both made in Hawaii!

I found these brands at various smaller stores all over Maui and even at the airport gift shop! Luckily, they are also available online!

Royal Hawaiian Creations

I found two cotton Royal Hawaiian Creations shirts that I really liked, so I picked them up. My wife got a nice flower dress by that same brand.

They have a good selection of both men’s and women’s clothing on their site! They carry clothes made of cotton, blends, and rayon.

Aloha Republic

The second brand I liked was Aloha Republic. I found two shirts I liked, also cotton, but only one was in my size (medium). I’m going to order the second one (and a few more) online. My wife got a shirt for her dad from this brand as well.

Aloha Republic is sold online at their store, Hawaiian Islands Paradise. Note that although I found great shirts for men here, I didn’t see as much good clothing for women, although they do sell some women’s clothes. Royal Hawaiian Creations has a better selection for women.

As far as I can tell, all of their clothing is made of cotton.

I loved the fact that both of these brands are made in Hawaii and not knockoffs made in China, evidence of their authenticity!

Both of these brands are also reasonably priced, especially when you compare them to mainstream brands like Tommy Bahama or Tori Richard.

More Brands!

Since publishing this article, several readers have commented!

Chelsea Beach of Swingtiki recommends vintage-styled Hawaiian shirts by Avanti Hawaii and Paradise Found. These are really awesome!

Conclusion

To be clear, these are not affiliate links and I’m not getting paid to recommend these brands! It just turned out that all of the shirts I liked in Hawaii were by these two brands.

So, if you’re looking for Hawaiian clothes for Swing dancing, check out these two online stores. If you know of another source for great vintagey style Hawaii shirts and dresses, please let us know about it in the comments!