Nicholas Daley Aloha Shirt

The aloha shirt is one of the most travelled garments in modern dress. It began in Honolulu in the 1930s, took its cut from a Filipino work shirt and its cloth from Japanese kimono silk, and has been absorbed by nearly every culture it has reached since. That history of borrowing is presumably why Daley was interested in it, because it is the same movement of people and material his whole line is about, arriving at a shirt instead of at a theory.

What separates this from the pattern’s usual output is that nothing here is printed. The design is a jacquard, meaning the pattern is woven into the cloth on a loom that controls each warp thread individually, so the figure exists in the structure of the fabric rather than sitting on top of it. You can feel it with a hand. It also means the shirt has no right side and wrong side in the way a printed one does, and that it will not fade off the surface. The result is soft, fluid, and considerably quieter than the category usually manages.

Why we selected it

We are generally suspicious of the aloha shirt, because most of them are a loud print on an indifferent cloth. This one is the reverse: the cloth is the whole event and the pattern is restrained enough to wear to dinner. That was the argument, and it held.

Daley’s summer shirting is where he works out how far a borrowed garment can travel before it stops belonging to anyone, which is a question the aloha shirt was already asking.

Materials and construction

Sixty-eight percent organic cotton and thirty-two percent recycled polyester, woven as a jacquard, made in England. Open collar, button front. Colour: Sonic Jacquard.

Fit notes

Cut loose and meant to hang away from the body, which is what the cloth needs in order to move. The collar sits open and flat. This is a shirt to wear untucked. If you are between sizes and want it to drape properly, take the larger.

Styling

With the Wide Short or the Wide Beach Short and a loafer, which is the obvious summer answer. It also works under an open linen cardigan when the evening turns. Keep everything else plain, because a jacquard is already doing the work.

Care

Wash cool and gently, and dry away from direct heat. The polyester content means it will hold its shape better than a pure cotton shirt and also that a hot iron will glaze the surface, so press on low with a cloth between if you press it at all. Our fabric care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Beach Shirt is the tie-dyed cotton and the Field Shirt the yarn-dyed check. The Wide Beach Short is the linen short, and the Classic Two Pocket Shirt in beige the corduroy shirt for cooler weather. Everything we carry from Nicholas Daley is listed together.