Kauai History and Clothing
Hawaiian requirements for shelter and clothing were minimal due to their tropical climate. The first Polynesian canoe voyagers brought wauke plants (paper mulberry) with them to continue producing kapa. Kapa was a fabric made by native Hawaiians from the bast fibres of certain species of trees and shrubs like wauke, mamaki, oloa, `akala, or hau plant fibers. It was a time-consuming, labor-intensive process, but Hawaiian kapa (bark cloth) had many useful functions in everyday life in early Hawaii. As kapa in Hawaii evolved, its quality surpassed that of any other region displaying a wide variety of textures, weights, and designs.
The basic garments were a malo (loincloth) for men, a pa`u (skirt) for women and a kihei (rectangular shawl) for both. All were made of kapa. Hawaiians used a number of unique techniques including producing watermarks with patterned beaters, printing designs with bamboo stamps, achieving the colors green and blue with vegetable dyes, and beating perfumed flora into the cloth to impart a fragrance. At least 68 individual types of kapa were produced, each with a specific name. Kapa was used for many things other than clothing, including bedding or sheet material and as banners or as wrapping material. Kapa, the fine and softly-rendered bark cloth of ancient Hawai‘i, was an integral part of every important phase of one’s life – from birth and marriage and death. Kapa enfolded newborns, united two souls beneath a single marriage kapa, and protected the remains of departed loved ones.
Other garments included ti leaf capes which provided protection against cold or rain. Ali`i wore feather capes, cloaks, helmets and lei as signs of rank and status. Made from the feathers of hundreds or thousands of birds attached to a mesh backing, feather garments used striking geometric patterns, most often in yellow and red. Since only a few feathers were taken from each bird caught, which was then released, gathering the feathers for one cape could take decades or even generations.
