On the 75th anniversary of the aloha shirt, Nat Norfleet has come home to celebrate the company his father, Nat Norfleet Sr., founded, Kahala Sportswear, which coincidentally celebrates the same birth year.

"I’m proud that we’re one of the oldest Hawaiian shirt firms still standing," Norfleet said, noting that Kamehameha Garmentsstarted two months before his dad in 1936.

The outspoken and entertaining Norfleet will be among the attendees when Kahala hosts a celebration from 5 to 7 p.m. todayat its Ala Moana store. Due to the cyclical nature of the business, and the adjustment that entails dealing with trends thatcome and go, it’s a feat for a fashion company to survive 20 years, much less 75.

At times, it didn’t look like Kahala would survive the tumult, having changed hands four times in its lengthy history. Mostrecently, Kahala has become part of the Tori Richard family, another kamaaina family-run company — started by Mort Feldmanand now run by Josh Feldman — of which Norfleet wholeheartedly approves. He refers to the two companies as part of the "garmento"network of father-son businesses that have dominated Hawaii’s aloha-shirt business since its founding. Of course, back then,no one knew how big the industry would grow.

Norfleet said his dad had the most unlikely resume, starting as a masseuse at the Los Angeles Athletic Club before movingto Hawaii and loving it enough to stay. Through the athletic club, "he knew every movie star, so when those stars came toHawaii, they looked him up."

Those A-listers included John Wayne and Johnny Weissmuller, the on-screen cowboy and apeman, respectively, who became unlikelyposter boys for the exotic custom shirts Norfleet Sr. was making out of Japanese silk and rayon. It had cost $1,000 apiecefor him and a friend, George Brangier, to invest in the fabric.

The younger Norfleet said he wasn’t very interested in his father’s business while growing up, preferring to be at the beachor participate in sports, but he joined the business after he finished school in 1963.

He discovered a natural affinity for the business, which by then had grown national in scope, with 185 employees turning outwomen’s dresses and swimwear in addition to the men’s shirts, for such major retailers as Bullock’s, B. Altman and Co., Bloomingdale’s,Saks and Macy’s.

Although Kahala has become primarily associated with men’s apparel, Norfleet said that at the time, women’s wear was an easiersell.

"Kahala was big on women in the early days. At one point we were leaders in swimwear along with Catalina and Jantzen," hesaid, adding that the men’s business was more limited. "Men still had a hard time wearing a Hawaiian shirt on the mainland."

While that changed with the popularity of Tommy Bahama and other leisure lines, Norfleet said, "in the old days, it was seasonal.It would get really big during the summer and stop, whereas women’s printed wear was always popular."

He said that during his tenure, he was witness to the development of the reverse-print shirt when his father, a patron ofThe Red Vest, a Waikiki bar, agreed to make some custom shirts for bartender Pat Dorian, who was trying to market his ownlabel, Hawaiian Ivy by Pat Dorian. A red fabric was chosen but, Norfleet said, "one of the girls sewed it inside-out by mistake,so the famous shirt was an accident!"

Dorian, later credited with coming up with the reverse print, loved the faded, lived-in look, and over time, the reverse-printpullover shirt became one of Kahala’s best-sellers, predating a contemporary love for a lived-in, hand feel.

Kahala was sold in the mid-1970s, when Norfleet Sr. fell ill and could no longer work. In 1986 it was sold to Dale Hope, whosefather, Howard, had started Sun Fashions and launched the HRH-His Royal Highness label.

Local Motion bought the company in 1990. The younger Hope helped relaunch the Kahala brand after it switched hands again,from Local Motion to Tori Richard in 2006.

In the meantime, Norfleet had been enjoying independent successes, from the launch of the Cooke Street label in the late 1970s,which owes its name to his looking up at the sign outside his office, and the surf brand Norfleet.

That led to his move to California, "where surf brands grow," he said.

Competitors took notice and he was hired by Ocean Pacific, where he continues to work after more than 15 years with the company.These days, he’s developing shoes as well, saying creating fashion is something that "stays in your blood. To this day, Ican sell shirts all day long.

"It’s been a nice journey," he said. "Coming back here, I look around and see I’m the oldest alumnus of all the sons of theoriginal garmentos who strived here."

With a critical eye, standing in the lifestyle store that Tori Richard has created for the brand his father started, Norfleetsaid, "They’ve done a spectacular job. If they would take my advice, I would give it, but it all looks pretty good to me."