He's the guy who hates ties, loves casual Fridays and wears flip-flops after work hours.
You may have even heard him recite gnarly surfer wisdom in the break room: “Hang loose. No worries. Live it up.”
He's the Hawaiian Shirt Guy.
More men are wearing the colorful shirts — even on weekdays — as several large Omaha companies that used to require oxford shirts and ties have relaxed their dress codes. Mutual of Omaha, West Asset Management and Union Pacific recognize the neon-colored, button-down shirts as business casual attire.
Some companies also are allowing employees to have a designated Hawaiian Shirt Day.
Hawaiian shirts have gained popularity in recent years, thanks to the influence of surfer chic.
Marshal Cohen of the NPD Group, a New York-based marketing and analysis company, said that overall, Caribbean or tropical-inspired apparel in the U.S. has become popular within the past two to three years.
Although Hawaiian shirts have been popular since the 1990s, Cohen said, they only recently have become prevalent in the workplace.
“Let's give it up to Tommy Bahama,” he said. “They really took that casual lifestyle and put quality into making it acceptable to wear Caribbean casual shirts in the workplace.”
Average guys didn't know what to do with casual Fridays, he explained. They wore golf polos and khakis.
“Caribbean shirts gave them the ability to have style, flair and personality,” he said.
Omahan Dave Walsh loves the trend. The 48-year-old bill recovery specialist has been wearing Hawaiian garb to work since the “Miami Vice” era. That's right — for 20-plus years.
To him, dressing up is pairing coconut and palm tree prints with slacks.
He has 20 shirts in just about every color — from mango to lemon yellow. Some have floral designs. Some have hula dancers.
They're comfy, fun and set a party mood, he said. His motto: “Today is just another day in paradise.”
“I enjoy my job,” he said. “Therefore, I dress as if I'm in paradise.”
His managers and human resources personnel at the collection agency have never complained.
“I'm clean in appearance,” he said. “I don't see anything wrong with it.”
The shirts also take him from work to dinner to a night at the bar.
He bought his first Hawaiian shirt on his honeymoon cruise to Jamaica in the mid-1980s. The marriage didn't last, but the shirts did.
Walsh doesn't wear obnoxiously bright shirts to the office. He'll buys rayon shirts that fit the khaki pants scheme — black, navy and beige — for $20 from department stores such as Wal-Mart and Kohl's.
Greg Chambers of Mad Gringo, an online tropical store with a warehouse in Dundee, keeps 10 to 12 Hawaiian shirts in rotation at all times on his shelves. He thinks every man should have at least two.
“It's the only article of clothing that men can compliment one another on and still sound macho,” he said.
Chambers is a former banker who gave up his 9-to-5 job to start Mad Gringo after vacationing in Mexico two years ago. He hired a men's clothing designer to help him select textile prints and special cuts for the Hawaiian shirts, which are made in Indonesia.
Chambers wanted to “Go Slow,” the company's philosophy. He was tired of suiting up for work and not having the time to appreciate life. He explains on his Web site:
“Mad Gringo believes a good nap can change your outlook on life. That someone wearing a Hawaiian shirt laughs more than 17 times a day. That the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker deserves respect. That no one accidentally becomes a jerk. That we spend too much time thinking about what others will say.”
Clients dig his outlook on life. They also love the stories behind each shirt's design. They've started an online community of Mad Gringo shirt wearers with “Mad” names. They call Chambers, for instance, “Mad Greg.”
His shirts sell for $50 to $60, relatively inexpensive, compared with $110 designer Tommy Bahama shirts.
His core demographic tends to be professional men ages 45 to 65.
“You have your idea of who the Hawaiian Shirt Guy is, you know that loud guy at the bar table next to you,” he said. “They're anything but that. They're fun and intelligent people who like to have a great time.”
Though they're enjoying growing popularity now, aloha shirts — the preferred name among aficionados — have been around forever. They were invented in the 1930s, when mom and pop tailors in Hawaii began making Western-style garments. The shirts at first were sold to tourists, but they eventually caught on with locals.
Once that happened, casual Fridays had to follow. The City of Honolulu decided in 1965 that it was OK for employees to wear aloha shirts to city offices, laying the groundwork for the trend that later swept the nation.
Hawaiian Shirt Days have sprouted at Omaha businesses.
At least one department at Union Pacific hosts Hawaiian Shirt Fridays. Men and women are expected to wear a tropical button-down shirt. If they don't, they have to put money in a jar as a penalty. At the end of the year, the department uses the money it has collected to throw a luau party.
Omahan Bob Federspiel isn't in that department, but he still participates.
He's pretty straight-laced the rest of the week. But on Fridays, he sports his maroon palm-tree shirt. He's been doing it for three years.
He does, however, tuck it in.
Walsh, meanwhile, is anything but casual when it comes to his Hawaiian shirt legacy.
When it's time for that final aloha, he wants palm trees and hula dancers in the picture. That's part of his written funeral arrangements.
“I want everyone to wear a Hawaiian shirt to my wake,” he said. “I've already got mine picked out.”
But don't worry — it's a dignified black.
With “unbelievable red, green and yellow” flowers, he said.
Contact the writer:
444-107 5, j.loza@owh.com
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