Good ol’ vacation wear for the daddest of dads has gone through a groundbreaking shift. The Hawaiian shirt is now a major street style winner and the coolest anti-trend pick of the season — Zara, Hedi Slimane and Justin Bieber can testify.
But there’s one brand dedicated exclusively to giving the tropical island shirt a fresh, new, nongendered narrative with its original artwork and flair of styling. We’re talking about Tombolo, the Brooklyn-based brand rescuing the Hawaiian shirt from the kitschy, ironical clothing category.
“Over the years I dug deeper into the Hawaiian shirt’s history, and learned about why it ended up so spectacularly different from everything else in my closet,” says Chris Galasso, brand co-owner with Michael Sard. “I found influences reaching far beyond the shores of Hawaii to Japan, Tahiti, England, France, California, and beyond. There was no grand plan. This shirt was born out of a wildly eclectic mix of cultures over hundreds of years.”
Here’s why we’re rocking dad resort wear anywhere this summer.
[ Next: 6 Vacation Outfits Inspired by Our Favorite Resort 2019 Looks ]
Hawaiian Shirts
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Unisex Styling
We found a stellar range of sizes on Tombolo's official site, from XXS to XXL. The site mentions that the brand believes in "one unisex gradient that optimizes fit for men and women alike." Groovy.
Image: @tombolocompany
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Tombolo
Playa of Eden, $128 at Tombolo
The Playa shirt has engraved agoya shell buttons, kimono lapels and the artwork features a very subtle tie-dye effect.
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Tombolo
Spiaggia Knit, $88 at Tombolo
Tombolo also sells some swanky and fun cabana shirts with camp collar details. We love the roomy silhouettes of the shirts, which are ideal for warm weather.
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Tombolo
Amber Vittoria x Tombolo, $128 at Tombolo
For Women's History Month, Tombolo teamed up with New York-based illustrator Amber Vittoria to create shirts that celebrate nontraditional, nonidealized representations of the female form. This shirt is based on her work "Taking A Day" and, according to Vittoria, "speaks to not only taking time to reflect on how far we have come in striving for equality amongst genders, but also taking the time to continuously push further for equality and intersectional feminism."
