Ellery J. Chun was born in 1909, Honolulu, HI. He graduated from Yale in 1931 with a degree in Economics. As a Hawaiian, Chun was inspired by the garments worn by plantation workers and the silk shirts made from kimono scraps, and in 1931 invented the Aloha Shirt. In July 1936, first registered the term "aloha shirt" and began mass-producing them for his King-Smith Store in downtown Honolulu. The colorful shirts with palm tree, hula, or floral motifs were an instant hit with local surfers and entertainers, which spurred sales among tourists.
"I was just trying to figure out a way to increase business in the store when I got the idea to promote a local style of shirt," Chun told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in a 1987 interview. "Since there was no pre-printed Hawaiian fabric around, I took patterned Japanese yukata cloth and had a few dozen short-sleeve, square-bottomed shirts made up for me. I put the shirts in the front window of the store with a sign that said ?Aloha Shirts.? They were a novelty item at first, but I could see that they had great potential."
Chun?s original aloha shirt designs were donated to the Smithsonian Institution?s National Textile Collection in 1998. Hollywood helped heighten the popularity of aloha shirts. In the 1953 classic From Here to Eternity, leading men Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine all sported Hawaiian-themed shirts.
The colorful shirts are now a Hawaiian tradition. Ellery eventually closed the store and became a bank vice president. Chun died May 16 at age 91.
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