Duke Kahanamoku

I am fairly confident that this was a souvenir. I've been to Hawaii a few times, at the time my parents would have bought this for me. It was before 2000 and this shirt has been around a while.
A Duke shirt is not that uncommon in Hawaiian gift shops but it is pretty uncommon anywhere else. You might have been able to get one of these at Hilo Hatties before they went out of business stateside. But without that you'd only be able to grab one of these from a Hawaiian gift shop.
Through the years this has taken a lot of punishment and has stood strong. This is another one of the small-left hand-side logo designs which I have very few of. As you can hopefully see, the color is fading. With a surfing themed shirt fading means you've spent enough time out in he sun to "earn" the right to wear this shirt. I'd like more blue shirts and I'd like more worn in shirts. This was a souvenir for me so a medium makes sense.
The words on the front and back of the shirt are the same but the designs are different. On the front is a royal crest with cursive handwriting going across it. It is done with 4 colors, white for a drop shadow, black for the text, red for the field in the background and the orange is made of yellow on top of the red. The back is a much more elaborate design but still says "Duke Kahanamoku". Duke was a legendary surfer and even got golds in the Olympics for swimming. He's a treasure of Hawaii and a surfboarding pioneer. Duke Kahanamoku wasn't actually a Duke but the royal seal and the crown symbolize his accomplishments and how he was an ambassador for surfing thought the world.
I like to wear this shirt on vacation or around visitors or people who think California/Hawaii is cool. It's kind of a careful situation, the shirt gives the feeling that I subscribe to the carefree and easy lifestyle of a surfer and I like to play it off that most Californians are that way. Now if a real surfer comes along this is clearly a tourist shirt and I'm kinda screwed, so I try and avoid that. If I inspire a conversation with this shirt I'll most likely divert it to talking about the beauty of Hawaii or the wonderful shore side, or one of my favorite topics, the California weather.

One of the funniest or I suppose most pathetic things about my time with this shirt is that I had thought that it was a "Duke's" shirt. Referring to the restaurant that bears his name based in Hawaii and also has locations in California. I realized the difference this morning when I was taking a closer look at the details of the shirt for the blog post. I don't know how I feel about it though. I mean I am kinda happy that I now know but I am a little concerned that I was under the wrong impression for 10+ years. This blog has allowed me to find out a lot more about my clothes, my habits, and my sensibilities.