Kula: Aloha Shirts Made from Vintage Silk Kimono

Recently I met an entrepreneur born and bred in Kyoto but has a modern, international and novel approach to Japanese traditions such as the kimono and has recently started developing a new business based on this. He is making gorgeous Hawaiian aloha shirts from vintage silk kimono.

Masaki Hitomi was the 3rd generation owner of a company specializing in used products that in recent decades focused mainly on the buying and selling of used kimono. Hitomi had an experience several years ago in which the buyer of a kimono that he sold wanted to return it, claiming that it was not an authentic vintage kimono. Hitomi decided that he wanted to make some kind of product that people would buy based on its own merits and his own originality. Hitomi wanted to continue to use high quality vintage products, preferably kimono.

Hitomi decided on making aloha shirts from vintage kimono and named his store Kula. He uses one whole kimono to make one shirt, no patchwork. While there are several companies that make aloha shirts utilizing traditional kimono dying techniques and motifs on new fabric, Kula’s shirts seem to be the first made from actual vintage kimono.

He first tried making some on his own and quickly realized the cutting and sewing kimono silk is tricky and the work of a specialist. He also realized that he needed some authentic aloha shirt patterns. He searched for a fashion designer and after meeting several people selected one to design both a men’s and lady’s design in both short sleeve and long sleeve versions.

Next came sewing kimono silk. He found a small workshop in Japan that would partner with him to construct the garments according to the designs cut by the designer.

The is all complicated but not nearly as complicated as obtaining vintage, high quality kimono. Stained, faded, worm eaten and decomposing kimono about and can be purchased as souvenirs at the monthly Kobo-san and Tenjin-san markets in Kyoto (more Kyoto market info). Making an aloha shirt that is as good as new from a vintage kimono is quite another story. The first prototype was completed in January of 2008.

Selecting High Quality Vintage Kimono
As Hitomi dealt with kimono in his previous business, he had access to large numbers of kimono to choose from.

Hitomi reports that for every 1000 kimono that he looks at, he will select 10 to 20 that will be made into Kula aloha shirts! The kimono that he selects were well cared for and protected from insects and vermin and the elements such as sunlight and all too often in old kura (storehouse), rainwater from a leaky roof. Often these kimono were never worn by their original owners.

Taisho and Showa Era Kimono
The kimono are from the Taisho and beginning of the Showa era, so from about 1920 to 1965. Kimono older than this are just in too poor quality to reuse. This era, especially the Taisho era was a time in which Japan had fully mastered Western technology but culturally, were still very ‘Japanese’, unlike today. Design of the Taisho is my personal favorite throughout Japanese history I think. It is modern, has a Western influence, but still retains what is uniquely Japanese.

Making Aloha Shirts
Cleaning: The first step is to throughly clean the vintage kimono, this is a very difficult and expensive process requiring a specialty kimono dry cleaner.

Unstitching: Once the kimono is cleaned, it is carefully taken apart, unstitched by hand, not cut. This takes 3 to 4 hours per kimono!

Cutting: The kimono fabric is cut into shirt parts. Kimono silk is very difficult to cut accurately. To make a kimono, no cutting is required.

Sewing: The shirt is meticulously sewn and finished with domestically produced shell, bamboo or wood buttons.

Kula Store: The next stop in the Kula showroom which opened in December 2008. It is conveniently located at the intersection of Shijo and Teramachi intersection, just north of Shijo, inside the covered shopping arcade.

Do you know the story of the Hawaiian Aloha Shirt?
The aloha shirt was developed by immigrants from Japan and China in Hawaii. The bright colors, the look and feel, was directly inspired by Japanese kimono. Japanese immigrants cut up the kimono they brought with them and sewed the fabric together patchwork style into shirts suited to the Hawaiian climate.