Yeah, I’ve noticed the difference in quality. But I’m not so into Hawaiian shirts that I’d pay a C-note for one. The cheapies are okay for me.
On the other hand, aloha shirts are de facto in Hawaii for nice semi-formal wear, like for bankers and lawyers. I graduated from high school in Hawaii and my haole step-dad was the one parent there dressed in a navy suit- so very out of place and a little embarassing.
One of the things I really miss about living there. Pretty much three levels of dress: (1) t-shirt, (2) aloha shirt, (3) tuxedo. Gradations between come down to combinations of slippahs, shoes, shorts, and pants. Suit and tie, in my experience, was very seldom seen. Although it was kinda sad that suit and tie wearing among bank tellers seemed to be on the increase when I moved away.
I can’t imagine buying an aloha shirt for $25 or less; crappy material, shoddy stitching, and ill-fitting. I still have a couple in my closet ($50-75 a decade ago at Liberty House; I gave the others to my brother when I left the islands). My wife often tells me I should wear them more than I do, as she thinks I look particularly good in them. But, as I said, when in Rome…well, when in Indiana, aloha shirts don’t often enter the picture.
I had a boss who always wore bow ties until his wife threw them all away (thank you bosses wife).
I don’t quite qualify as a HSG yet, but I’m getting there. I only have 4 or 5 at this point, but I’ll wear one of them to work probably 4 days a week during the warmer months. Now that the weather has changed, my wardrobe will switch more toward long sleeves and sweaters.
I tend to steer toward the Tommy Bahama end of the spectrum; more expensive, but good quality (and not too terribly loud).
FYI, I’m a network administrator. There are quite a few HSG’s in by department. I think it comes with the job.
My boyfriend (from Hawaii) has the most tasteful collection of Aloha shirts ever. Lots of beiges and blacks. He’s even got a silk black-on-black one with a palm tree print.
Wow! My eyes! Pink *and * yellow?
My boss is gone today too. This makes me want to put mine on,…oh wait. It’s 25 degrees out and getting colder. I’ll stick with my long-sleeved t-shirt.
The devil, you say? Every Winter, all Winter. If the temp falls below -15F, I might put on a t-shirt underneath. Of course, that will be my poi t-shirt.
But man, I feel like a slacker. I only have 21 Aloha shirts.
And yes, they are called Aloha shirts, not Hawaiian shirts. Hawaiian shirts are only made in places other than the islands, and are usually inferior.
I have a few, most of which I bought in Hawaii. I also have a guayabera shirt that gets me lots of complements.
Mr. Frail is kind of an HSG when he can get away with it. I think if he had some nice ones, he would wear them to work, but most of his are thrift-store finds, so the HSs come out on the weekends. He’s incredibly skinny, for the record, and definitely not gay. 
My husband has several Hawaiian shirts, mostly because I kind of have a thing for them. He’s not really a party animal, but he does manage a comic book store where “dressed up” means wearing shoes indoors. 
We’re in Houston, which means we have warm weather year-round. Sure, it’ll get cold for a few days, but then it warms right up again.
He wears plenty of other shirts though, mostly t-shirts. I’ve borrowed his Hawaiian shirts a few times, but they kinda dwarf me.
Our former section head–he retired a couple of years ago–wore Hawaiian shirts whenever the temperature rose above 90° He’s of Irish descent.
I’m a short-sleeve guy. Pretty much all I wear are polo shirts, sometimes covered up with a sweat jacket, sweater, or parka according to the weather.
BTW: the section head had a Dilbert “Casual Day - it seemed like a good idea at the time” shirt. He gave it to me when he retired.
The only thing stranger than always wearing bow ties is only wearing them some of the time. I used to do that, and for some reason, it really threw people.
Yep. All the time. I like to wear them to things like P&C (PTA) Meetings, buying a car, shopping, whatever, rain or shine, winter or summer. I’m wearing one right now, with jeans and trilby hat.
By way of addressing the sweeping generalisations, while it must be acknowledged I’m a big fat guy, I am in no way a friendly outgoing person - in fact I am somewhat of a crusty, cranky curmudgeon. Who likes big ugly hawaiian shirts
Crusty, cranky curmudgeons wearing Hawaiian shirts just seems wrong. Against nature. Would Mr. Burns wear a Hawaiian shirt? I don’t think so.
It must be a bit of a mindfuck for people who don’t know you. They’re drawn in by the happy colors, assuming you must have a sunny personality to match. Then whammo, you hit them with a curmudgeonly left hook, followed by a cranky right jab.
Heh.
I started wearing them after reading the mixerman chronicles. That and blundstone boots. I wear either a hawaiian shirt or a tiedye to work every day…
I get all of mine off of ebay. Lots of people lose weight and mistakenly think they are going to keep it off, so they ebay their huge hawaiian shirts and I get them for cheap.
Confess, I’m more of an ex Hawaiian shirt guy. Ex as in I do have to wear suits to work. Day’s off though, rain or shine 24/7/365 I’m probably still clocking in at 90% Hawaiian shirts and/or really obnoxiously loud shirts (frinstance, I’ve got a Nemo shirt that’s turquoise with bright orange Nemo’s all over). It snows here rarely but I take that as a sign to wear a Hawaiian shirt. Heck, I wore Hawaiian shirts backpacking in Tibet.
SNORT Now that’s funny. Damn Silenus they had to know you were coming from ten miles away with that shirt.
Here’s a photo of http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alby4299/detail?.dir=7241&.dnm=9d12.jpg&.src=ph I’m on the right. I think it’s festive and it’s one of my favorite special-occassion shirts. Samclem’s has a kind of quiet dignity befitting his rank and station in life.
I own 2 more, sorry, but I love wearing suits, ties, sweaters and tuxedos, none of which quite go with aloha shirts.