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Posted On: October 30th 2023, 08:02 pm
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EDIT: 1870s-90s
Antique 1920s-30s Palaka plaid Japanese Hawaiian plantation workers shirt/jacket (1 of 2) NFS
Hand sewn buttonholes, several different repairs made by machine. This one only had two lower buttons and a safety pin closure, leading me to think this one was used more as a jacket versus the other with a complete button placket. White cotton lined waistband on both pieces. This one has more intense sun fading on the shoulders and arms, held in contrast by the unfaded interior. Plantation workers wore long sleeves and pants to protect from the intense sun and sharp sugar cane fronds. When I found this it was inside out, meaning the last person to have touched this was most likely working on the mends. Made from thick, 100% cotton, unlike the thinner contemporary palaka fabrics made from a synthetic cotton blend. One of two shirts found in a cardboard box in the attic of the Plantation Museum north of Hilo.
I am beyond lucky to have found not one but two pieces of Kamaʻāina history, which is as much apart of me as my early Kansas settler heritage. I am a third/fourth generation Japanese Hawaiian immigrant, I am Kamaʻāina.
Antique 1920s-30s Palaka plaid Japanese Hawaiian plantation workers shirt/jacket (1 of 2) NFS
Hand sewn buttonholes, several different repairs made by machine. This one only had two lower buttons and a safety pin closure, leading me to think this one was used more as a jacket versus the other with a complete button placket. White cotton lined waistband on both pieces. This one has more intense sun fading on the shoulders and arms, held in contrast by the unfaded interior. Plantation workers wore long sleeves and pants to protect from the intense sun and sharp sugar cane fronds. When I found this it was inside out, meaning the last person to have touched this was most likely working on the mends. Made from thick, 100% cotton, unlike the thinner contemporary palaka fabrics made from a synthetic cotton blend. One of two shirts found in a cardboard box in the attic of the Plantation Museum north of Hilo.
I am beyond lucky to have found not one but two pieces of Kamaʻāina history, which is as much apart of me as my early Kansas settler heritage. I am a third/fourth generation Japanese Hawaiian immigrant, I am Kamaʻāina.
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