Olympian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku and New York garment company, Cisco, collaborated and created a Duke Kahanamoku sportswear collection in 1950. This collection was distributed to better stores across the country.
This is an unusual take on a Hawaiian design, almost Native American in style and color. On this black, short-sleeved shirt is the honu, or Hawaiian turtle, revered as a sacred symbol of longevity and endurance. This green sea turtle is an endangered species and protected under federal and state laws. This design, though, honors the honu in a stylized way, with its perfectly oval shell, golden with red designs on its edge and adorned with a black emblem on its center. The turtle leaves a line trail behind it, with smaller honu following right behind it. The colors — gold, red, black — are a departure from the turtle’s true natural environment, giving this shirt a unique look and feel.
