ARAKAWAS PALAKA is a tribute to the original Arakawas of Waipahu store, which was started in 1909 by an Okinawan immigrant whose name is Zenpan Arakawa.  Arakawa's store was a small plantation store located on Depot Road in Waipahu, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. The Waipahu Sugar Mill was just across the road from the store and is where many of the Arakawas customers worked.  Palaka, while originally introduced to Hawaii during King Kamehameha the Great's reign (1782-1819) by English sailors, the checkered shirt was made a tradition by the early Japanese immigrants in the late 1800's who came to work the sugar cane fields. Arakawa's store became one of the largest producers of the palaka shirts. It developed into more than a plantation shirt, it was Hawaii's shirt.  Palaka predates the 'Aloha Shirt'which first became popular in the 1930's and continues to be the authentic shirt of Hawaii.  The Arakawa's store closed in 1995 but the palaka shirt has not lost it's place in Hawaii. This generation of the Arakawa's Palaka shirt is sewn with the same attention to quality and detail as those of earlier years and has genuine coconut buttons.  The 100% cotton fabric is yard dyed and woven, not a cheap printed variety that can be found in lesser shirts.    

Palaka, the original Hawaiian shirt. Traditional yet Contemporary.  Palaka is Hawaii.