Kiilani was a label of the Alfred Shaheen company. They had different labels for different stores, allowing them to sell to the high end retail and moderate markets.
Shaheen was a Honolulu garment industry pioneer who started his business in the late 1940s. In 1952, in a rented Quonset hut on Hornet Street, he built his first silk screening plant. Here, he printed designs created by staff artists inpired by Hawaii, the South Pacific and Asia.
He created tropical print shirts for men and a diverse collection of printed sportswear styles for women. His garments had novel, artistic patterns, quality fabric and the finest construction. All Shaheen's garments were printed and sewn in their Honolulu factory.
They sold their clothing line to major departments stores in the states, international accounts and in their seven retail stores in the Hawaiian Islands Islands.
Alfred Shaeen's motto was, "What Hawaii makes, makes Hawaii". He started with four machines and eventually grew to 120 employees completing about 1,700 garments a day. That's one finished shirt every 40 seconds!
Shaheen closed his operation and retired in 1988, leaving a legacy that will be hard to duplicate in the Pacific.
