Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Branfleet

French Actor George Brangier met Duke Kahanamoku in Los Angeles while both were acting. Brangier asked Kahanamoku to teach him how to surf. Kahanamoku agreed. Brangier moved to Hawai‘i in 1928. Brangier and a California surfer, Nat Norfleet Sr, started Branfleet in January 1936 at 1704 King Street. “We began like nearly everybody else in the business – not with a pair of shoestrings but with on shoestring between the two of us.”

“Red McQueen had brought back from the 1932 Olympics in Japan some shirts made out of silk kimono cloth. We copied them to produce our first aloha shirts.” The company was one of the first to switch from making strictly tailor-made shirts to making them through a manufacturing process. (On July 23, 1939, they moved into a factory on Kapiʻolani Boulevard.) In 1937 Branfleet signed Duke Kahanamoku to a five-year contract allowing them to use the noted champion’s name on their sportswear. They also had the ‘Kahala’ brand – what the company was eventually called.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1930s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1930s – sugar production peaks, Pan-Am Clipper service begins, Hickam Airfield is constructed, ‘Aloha Shirt’ is trademarked and Doris Duke builds Shangri La. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bradley, Voorhees & Day

They started making hoop skirts; Bradley, Voorhees & Day then got into ‘union suits’ (reportedly they were the first.) The union suit involves the combination of both a shirt and pants (drawers) in a one piece suit. The garment commonly included a drop seat. During the Great Depression, they were successful in manufacturing swimsuits for men, women and children.

They patented their own fabric, Sea Satin, a rayon woven satin backed with latex for stretch. Later, in the 1940s and 50s, Bradley, Voorhees & Day started to make Hawaiian Aloha Shirts. Over time, the products were simply known as BVD (using the first letters of founders’ names.) And now, they are a genericized trademark in reference to any brand of underwear.