Say Aloha To Shirt Collector

Hawaiian shirts are a state of mind.

"You are making a statement when you wear one," says Gary Moss, who owns 75 of them. "You're saying that you are fun, and they make you stand out."

Moss will present "The Culture of Aloha Shirts" at noon Saturday at the Florida Memorabilia & Highwaymen Show, which continues Sunday at Sunken Gardens Botanical Park. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.

Moss' shirts were exhibited in 2004 at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Mass., and included in the book "Hawaiian Shirts: Dress Right for Paradise," by Nancy Schiffer.

And now they're paying for his daughter's college education.

"These shirts are selling so well that they have paid for her first three years at Stetson," says Moss, 59, a retired optometrist and college professor from Massachusetts.

"I wore a shirt, tie and jacket for 28 years," he adds, "but since retiring last year I have worn only Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops.

Hawaiian and Aloha shirts are one and the same. Moss collects vintage rayon threads with pineapples, palm trees and statues of King Kamehameha. Most were manufactured from 1935 to '53.

A cruise line in the late 1940s produced his shirt featuring the Statue of Liberty and Kamehameha, the ancient Hawaiian king, to promote trips from New York to the Hawaiian Islands.

Moss bought his first vintage Hawaiian shirt in 1976 at a New Jersey antiques show to replace a sweaty golf shirt on a humid summer day. He took a fancy to it and began buying more at shows and shops.

"I had a $20 limit on them," he says, adding that eight years later, he learned his 50 shirts had become collectibles. He has sold them for $150 to $4,500, with Japanese collectors really driving the market.

"Patterns on white in a small size bring the least," Moss says. "Those on black backgrounds in extra-large bring the most. And the more colors in the pattern, the better. Rayon is most valuable, then silk and cotton. Value is a funny thing with these shirts.

"Some people frame them like art; others wear them."

He won't be selling the dozen shirts he displays at the show, but he will provide free appraisals and information on how to purchase.

"People suffer sticker shock when they learn what they're worth," he says.

Moss has a slide show and show-and-tell segment in his presentation. He also will display Florida shirts from the 1940s featuring postcard art of St. Petersburg, Miami and Silver Springs.

"It's crazy," he says. "I never thought they would be worth this much money.

"I just liked wearing them."

FLORIDA MEMORABILIA & HIGHWAYMEN SHOW

WHAT: Exhibition and sale of vintage "Floridiana" souvenirs and memorabilia, tropical decor, Hawaiian shirts, barkcloth fabrics and works by Highwaymen artists James Gibson, Issac "Ike" Knight, Robert Lewis and Roy McLendon. Lectures and films also will be presented, and free appraisals of vintage Florida art will be provided.

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

WHERE: Sunken Gardens Botanical Park (indoors), 1825 Fourth St. N, St. Petersburg

ADMISSION: $6; $3 for children younger than 2. For information, call (727) 321-8454 or visit www.hulahula.biz