He views the use of the Hawaiian shirt as yet another attempt by far-right groups to create an “undefinable space” with “in-your-face absurdity.” “It’s by design,” Mr. Blanchfield said.

Shortly thereafter, Hawaiian shirts underwent mass production. On the front lines stood Alfred Shaheen, a WWII veteran who’d set up his own clothing business (“Shaheen’s of Honolulu”) in 1948.

Outsiders often consider aloha shirts, Hawaiian shirts and resort shirts to be the same things, but they’re not. Authentic Versus Inauthentic Tory Laitila, Honolulu Museum of Art’s curator of textiles ...

A Hawaiian shirt is seen fluttering in the wind. The iconic button-downs have been made and widely worn in the islands since the 1930s. Photograph By Eric Helgas/The New York Times/Redux.