The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-02-16
HAWAIIAN HATS
FOR NEW YORK
Continued from page one).
them before they are forgotten en-

Of them before they are forgotten en-
tirely
Perhaps among the most interesting
of these is that of making Hawaiian
hats and in this a fine start towards
establishing a truly native industry
has already been made.
The prices commanded by Panama
and Filipino hats is such as to encour-
age those who are looking after the
present attempt as there is no doubt
that as good hats can be made by the
Hawaiian women as any that come
from the places mentioned. For these
expensive hats however there is Of
course a limited demand and it is to-
wards the production of grades for Or
binary wear that attention has been
directed.
First attempts to enlist Hawaiian
women in the work were discourag ing
but after some time Theodore Richards
and the Atherton Estate, recognizing
/ the Importance of the work took it up
in order to assist the lady who had the
matter in hand.
When Mr.. Richards heard of the
work he became interested and at once
offered a work room at the Kauluwela
lodgings, on Vineyard street." she said
this morning, without that we could
have done nothing. There the women
work on the hats and on the braids.
Some of the original Hawaiian patterns
for braids had disappeared entirely
Others were recalled by native women
who remembered them from the early
days. Others we managed to get from
the other islands and one or two /
designed. We have now thirty pat
terms in ALL"
A sample book was produced and the
braids shown were certainly beautiful.
They were woven by deft fingers into
Ipatterns of varied cleverness and even
to an eye all unframed in the mysteries
of millinery it was apparent that when
made up into hats and trimmed they
would be precious indeed to femininity.
There are no dyes used at ALL" the
narrator went on, but the variety of
materials used gives the colors. There
are the sugar cane leaf or ha-ko, the
sugar cane flower or pua-ko, fern
leaves such as the ama-u and iva,
palms such as the lauhala and loulu
and the bamboo or ohe. After getting
these samples together we sent one set
New York firms Here there was more
hard luck for the samples were lost in
the mail which was wrecked when the
Hawaiian packages were among those
destroyed We have sent on a dupli-
cate lot Of the braids, however, and are
awaiting replies"
The work Of making woven hats, as
in contradistinction from the braids is
also being encouraged, but the difficult
ty there lies in the fact that shapes
change with the seasons and while a
woven hat must remain in it's origina
form. the braids are always in line for
use as they can be sewn to any shape
desired. 1t is asserted that for perfec-
ton of wearing none can excel the
Hawaiian hats and braids.
Should the experiment be successful,
, and it's promoters are sangune of sue
cess, the whole output would be ship
ped to New York and placed with some
firm whose business it would be to
work up a demand for Hawaiian hats
and weaves, and it is by no means be-
yond the probabilities that people here
in Honolulu who would scorn to wear
an Hawaiian hat nowadays will in a
few seasons be buying head gear which
has gone hence to New York and back
again. Such are the vagaries of fash
ion.
All Hawaians, both men and
women, who are interested i'm this
work, the men with materials and
the women with work, are requested
to communicate with Mrs. Starr
Kapu at Aloha Hale, Kauluwela lodg-
H.. ~
extensively beneficial to the Hawaiians
as possible, and by wide cooperation
it Is expected to produce a greater va
riety of material, create a greater de-
mand for the product, and enable q
e. I. al