print on demand tips for your online store

How to Sell Custom Hawaiian Shirts on Amazon, Ebay in 2024

The Print on demand Hawaiian shirts are becoming the trending products to sell on Amazon, Etsy, eBay and other POD platforms.
Knowing How to sell All over print Hawaiian shirts will help sellers gain better profit. In this blog post, we are going to tell you about the Hawaiian shirts’ history as well as the best tips to sell this item on eCommerce platforms such as Amazon or Etsy.

Why All over print Hawaiian Shirt is a profitable product to sell on Amazon?

The Hawaiian shirt is also known as the Aloha shirt appeared in Hawaii in the 1920s or ’30s (1). They are quickly becoming a favorite casual and informal …business attire in Hawaii and other’s places in the world because of their favorite designs & materials.
hawaiian vintage shirts

Hawaiian shirts are the perfect attire for summer.

These shirts come in many different colors and patterns, giving people a lot of options for clothing combinations.

They are ideal to wear on any occasion and paired with the right outfit, so people can really show off their style and characteristics!

In 2024, the custom printed Hawaiian shirts were one of the most popular print on demand clothing products. Otherwise, the Hawaiian shirts also are favorited items of celebrities including Bill Murray, Rihanna, Sophie Turner, and Justin Bieber during the year.

Justin wears Hawaiian shirt

Many famous brands offer custom Hawaiian shirts such as HM, Levi, Paul Smith. Especially, we can see how hot these items are while seeing surf and skate brands such as Vans also sell Hawaiian shirts.

Vans sell custom Hawaiian shirt

Furthermore, when you go to some of the most active eCommerce websites such as Etsy or Amazon, you can see that print on demand Hawaiian shirts belongs among the top best-selling POD products.

etsy best selling hawaiian shirt

9+ Cool Print on demand ideas for a Hawaiian shirt

Hawaiian shirts are super comfortable and versatile and can rock with everything in your wardrobe from a swimsuit on the beach to jeans at the weekend or a blazer at work.

Besides some of the traditional target customers such as Travelholic or Nature lovers, sellers can consider that now people also tend to wear a Hawaiian shirt to express their personality, express their love and interest, lifestyle.

Thus, some of these suggestions below might be great ideas for your next print on demand Hawaiian shirts.

Custom Face Hawaiian Shirt

Have you ever thought about putting your face on the Hawaiian shirt?

The custom Hawaiian shirts with the face are the hot trending print on demand items to sell on Etsy right now.

Just push the keyword on the box and you can get thousands of results with significant sales volume.

While the custom Hawaii shirt with face in Australia normally is printed with the face of girlfriend or boyfriend, people in the UK tend to put a more funny animal face on custom Hawaiian shirts.

Custom Hawaiian shirts with face UK’s best selling comes with dog or cat face which could help people show their love to their pets.

Vintage Hawaiian shirts with Japanese motifs

In the 1930s, there was a wave of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. They have made some of the first Hawaiian shirts with the graphic of Mount Fuji, goldfish, and Japanese folklore characters.

After that, the typical Japanese motifs are one of the highlight designs of the aloha shirt. Thus, you can add to your store the design of the print on demand Hawaiian shirts with Mount Fuji (camping niche) or Koi carp motifs (fishing niche).

 

Japanese Hawaiian Shirts Design

Hawaiian print shirt with Pineapple artwork

Hawaii is an island full of tropical fruits, especially pineapple. The image of pineapple is stylized interwoven with other niche highlights is a source of ideas for print on demand Hawaiian shirts. For examples:

  • Pineapple with cool skull image
  • The headphones and guitar motifs in music niche with pineapple
  • The combination of sports niches such as baseball and basketball images to create interesting designs with pineapple
pineapples hawaiian shirts

Custom made Aloha shirts with beaches, coconut trees, tropical forests, and surfing

Besides pineapples, you should not miss the typical symbols of Hawaii islands such as beaches, coconuts trees, or beach sports activities to create very unique designs for print on demand aloha shirts. For example flowers and plants combined with baseball, jeep, etc.

Otherwise, the neon effect and retro style are very suitable for beach and coconut tree textures to increase the vintage look of the product.

beach tropical hawaiian shirt

Custom Native Americans Hawaiian shirts

Native Americans value nature and worship the souls of animals as gods, so with print on demand Hawaiian shirts, you can come up with design ideas related to the process of conquering nature, national symbols such as:

  • Feathered hats: Native Americans wear feather hats or combine feather hats with wolf heads, horseheads, or animal skulls.
  • Combination of brocade motifs with dance movement images of the Native Americans or images of birds, animals, sun, trees, flowers, …
  • The image of Native Americans is hunting animals like wolves, horses, eagles, bears..
  • Totem design

All over print Religion Hawaiian shirts

Religion plays a crucial part in American life. According to Statista data (2), in 2020, the US religious groups will represent 77% of the population. With strong beliefs and religious diversity in the US, this is a very potential niche for your business to screw.

Some designs you can combine with print on demand Hawaiian shirts to conquer the majority of the American population can be mentioned:

  • Jesus, the cross, the star, the crescent moon,…
  • Star symbol in Christianity, Satanism, Satanism magic circle.
  • Goat head binary symbol with hellfire Satanic Goth Gothic.
  • Wicca symbol

Each religion will have different spiritual symbols, please research carefully to design to win the market.

religion hawaiian shirt

Cowboy design idea for a custom Hawaiian

The liberal, natural but still very strong life of cowboys has formed a characteristic culture and become part of the American soul.

You can completely put familiar photos associated with cowboy costumes such as hats, boots, horses, or images of boys herding cows, riding horses… to provide your customers with a very unique print on demand Hawaiian shirts.

In addition, you can anthropomorphize animals into a cowboy with typical activities to design more unique parts.

cowboy hawaiian shirt

Skull artwork for All over printed shirts

The Hawaiian shirt combined with the featured designs in the niche skull perfectly meets the needs of customers who both love the comfort and want to show their personality and coolness.

With this niche, you can come up with a design idea for print on demand Hawaiian Shirt like:

  • Skulls, crossbones combined with tropical motifs such as pineapple, coconut tree, sea, flower grass, butterfly bee, …
  • Humanize skeletons with hobbies such as dancing, driving, studying, holding a gun, surfing, diving, drinking beer, …

Fiction ideas for t-shirt printing Hawaii

The fiction niche with animal-related designs like Dragon, Bigfoot, Dinosaur, etc. is also very popular in sci-fi movies as well as American people.

Thus, here are some designs you can combine with custom Hawaiian shirts:

  • Dragon: Dragons add fire-breathing wings or combine dragons with volcanoes, lightning, blue sea, flowers, …
  • Bigfoot (big-legged monster): Bigfoot combined with the beach, the moon, the rainforest,…
  • Dinosaur: Dinosaur combined with vivid summer motifs such as ocean waves, coconut trees, tropical flowers, …
fiction hawaiian shirt
Of course, the best mix & match is a Hawaiian shirt & Hawaiian all over print shorts. A full set Hawaiian can brighter you summer vacation, it could not follow our mentioned suggestion but it is an exceptional choice that you can try this summer for sure!

All over print custom Hawaiian shirt product detail

With 100% woven polyester fabric which is lightweight, breathable, and resistant to shrinking wrinkles, Merchize all over print Hawaiian shirts are best-selling items during summers.

This item’s material is perfect for sublimation printing Hawaii with eye-catching designs. Merchize fulfillment service allows you to make your custom Hawaiian shirts with no minimum and no inventory.

Key features:

  • All over print (AOP): Custom all over print Hawaiian shirt
  • True to size: S-5XL
  • 100% woven polyester: Strong and smooth fabric. Perfect for printing
  • No shrinking, no wrinkles: The material is resistant to shrinking and wrinkling

How to do marketing for custom Hawaiian shirts

Print on demand Hawaiian shirts: Who’s buying?

Every single year, Hawaii receives more than eight million tourists.

Many tourists want to look like they are living there, that’s why people buy Hawaiian shirts for their friends or even for their next vacation.

Also, it is not only about Hawaii, but also the Hawaiian shirt, in general, be also a favorite item in summer for people who love traveling. It is also the best selling product at cut-rate souvenir shops where people can buy for their friends and family as gifts.

On the other hand, it is hard to assert that who is buying more custom Aloha shirts: men or women?

The fact remains that men are shopping for their shirts more than they did before.

The research shows that about 30% of men’s shirts are purchased by women in-store and 40% online while the rest do it by themselves.

Also, young men customers from 18 to 35 years old are purchasing their shirts more than ever before. They value the nostalgia and authenticity of older styles and vintage shirts and that comes with the true custom Hawaiian shirts.

Print on demand Hawaiian shirt is also popular items to wear in the tacky party nights or as costumers in US and Europe which is full of young, dynamic and sociable peoples.

People also wear custom Aloha shirts in some other countries with other cases:

  • Go to work: People tend to mix print on demand Hawaiian shirts with Khaki pants or dress slacks with a nice pair of oxfords or loafers.
  • Join a formal event, like a wedding: Mixing Hawaiian shirts with dress slacks and a nice pair of oxfords, loafers, slippers, or other sandals.
  • Attend a semi-formal event, like a party: Mixing Hawaiian shirts with dress slacks, khaki pants, a nice pair of jeans, or dress shorts with a nice pair of oxfords, loafers, slippers, sandals, or sneakers.
  • Participate a casual event, like a beach barbecue: Mixing custom Hawaiian shirts with shorts or swim trunks and slippers, sandals, sneakers, or athletic shoes.

Using CTA for your custom pattern Hawaiian shirt advertising

  • Hey, Bro. Ready for Summer? Here comes a cool Hawaiian shirt, shop now!
  • Limited edition- Not found in stores! Don’t miss out and go buy yours now!
  • Enjoy your favorite summer trips with our signature Hawaiian shirts. Check our designs!
    A cool summer is always better served in a Hawaiian shirt. Shop now!
  • Taste the freshness of Hawaii with our Hawaiian shirt. Buy it now!
  • Design your very own Hawaiian shirt collection, today!

=> Extra tips: Using CTA combined with holiday sales.

  • Awesome Hawaiian shirt for your Christmas! HOT SALE!
  • BLACK FRIDAY FLASH DEAL: Pick your Hawaiian shirt from a wide selection of styles, colors, sizes, and more- only from $XX.XX!

Up-sell và Cross-sell Suggestion for Custom printed Hawaiian shirts

Quantity discount

As Hawaiian shirts can be worn by anyone, it could be a great idea for customers to buy them to wear as a group: couple, family, or clubs.

Offering a quantity discount is always a good way to do marketing for your product especially for shirts. Eg: 2 items get 5% OFF, 3 items get $10.00 OFF, 4 items get 20% OFF…

quantity discount hawaiian shirt

Product bundle

Offering the combined package of Hawaiian shirts with other products at a lower price than if they were sold individually.

The attached product could be Hawaiian all over print shorts or a custom tote bag or print on demand t-shirts with the same designs. Eg: Hawaiian couple’s shirt; Hawaiian summer set….

product bundle hawaiian shirt

Other up-sale tips for Print on demand Hawaiian shirts marketing

Cart Up-sell: Showing related products to the main product when customers add the product to their card. This product could be specific, collections, new arrivals, or best-selling.

Post-purchase marketing: Encourage the final stage in the consumer process by optimizing website information: provide clearly refund and return policy, delivery information, or product care tips

Offer free shipping: Research shows that nearly 90% of customers said that free shipping is the motivation to shop online more. So, you can remind people how much they have to spend to qualify for the free shipping. That is the big incentive to continue adding items to the cart, especially if they’re not too costly.

Final thoughts

That’s all there is to it! You are now fully aware that you can make a lot of money selling Hawaiian shirts on eCommerce platforms. You know what your customers to look for, and you even know where to look for some high-quality all over print Hawaiian shirts.


REFERENCES

  1. Teddy Brokaw, Smithsonian: The History of the Hawaiian Shirt retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-hawaiian-shirt-180974598/https://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate
  2. Statista, Statista website: Self-described religious identification of the adult population in the United States in 2020 retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/183817/religious-identification-of-adult-population/
I'm a Content Specialist at Merchize. I love reading and writing about print on demand, designing and online business.