The manufacture of hula implements, Tahitian skirts and other Polynesian dance costumes, accessories, jewelry and more keeps Aloha Hula Supply busy year-round, and it has been this way for decades.

“Yesterday I sent 60 ilima skirts to California for a huge (Tahitian) fete,” and more are coming up in July, owner and President Sue Eldredge said Thursday.

“We are bombarded,” she said. “I can’t make them or dye them quickly enough.”

The raw skirts are shipped in from the South Pacific, in the natural color, which Aloha Hula Supply then bleaches and dyes by hand. Some 20 colors are available, and the process is proprietary. “Everybody tries to find out what my dye is,” she said.

“We send skirts to Tahiti because they can’t get the color,” she said.

It would seem sort of like sending coals to Newcastle, but why mess with success?

Eldredge’s 17 employees make most of the store’s hula implements by hand — with feathers imported from China, gourds from Mexico, iliili, or rocks used in certain hula dances, from the Philippines, and puili, or slit bamboo sticks, from Taiwan — as well as helping to run the store and warehouse.

However, she also has a line of puili made by a local firefighter “who lugs bamboo out of the mountains,” she said. “It’s a little more fragile but it sounds better, and it’s like butter off your shoulders.” Puili are commonly crossed and struck together in front of a dancer and then bounced off the shoulders in a repeated motion. “It’s light and bounces really good,” she said.

Eldredge believes it is accurate to say “we are the largest supplier of hula implements and Tahitian skirts in the world,” doing more than $2 million in gross sales a year. “I don’t think I’ll get rich, but it’s my passion. I love it,” Eldredge said.

Some of her customers have questioned “whose mana (spiritual power) is in this ipu heke” (two-part gourd), because it is believed that implements are imbued with the mana of the person who made them.

“Mr. Veth,” Eldredge will say, naming the Laotian master craftsman who has been making ipu heke for some 30 years. “I would not even try to change that,” she said.

People also question the mana of the rocks from the Philippines, which she sources via Honolulu-based Geobunga. She does so because it is no longer legal to harvest river rocks from Maui.

“Each dancer puts their own power (mana) into the rocks. You have to become one with your implements,” she said.

The products the company makes are so many and varied that just perusing its website takes some time, as each item seems more colorful or intricately made than the last, from artificial flower lei, wristlets and hip bands to accessories including hair clips and combs festooned with a tiara of crown flowers.

As one might expect, the shop makes costumes to order.

The yellow hau skirts worn by Mark Keliihoomalu’s halau at this year’s Merrie Monarch Festival came from Aloha Hula Supply, Eldredge said, as did other costumes and implements. Some Tahitian dance costume components from Aloha Hula Supply were worn by contestants in this year’s Miss Hawaii Scholarship Pageant as well.

“Some people think we don’t have a store, but we do have a little storefront,” Eldredge said. Tucked away toward the mauka end of Laumaka Street in Kalihi, parking is limited, but it’s fine to park behind employees’ vehicles, she said. Aloha Hula Supply is “a little bit hard to find, but once you do, you’ll never forget.”

Aloha Hula Supply sells direct-to-customer via the store, and it accepts orders via phone, fax and email, but coming soon an e-commerce feature will be added to the company website, Eldredge said. There is no minimum for an order, but the customer is responsible for shipping.

She ships to addresses as close to home as Waianae for customers who don’t want to drive in to town, as well as all across the mainland because “there’s a halau in every state,” she said. Beyond the U.S. she has clients around the world — in Japan, where hula is extremely popular, and “France, Australia, Tahiti, Taiwan, China” and more, she said.

Considering the controversy surrounding the Cameron Crowe movie “Aloha,” the word “aloha” probably has not received this much global attention since Elvis Presley’s “Aloha From Hawaii” concert in 1973.

Eldredge saw a trailer for “Aloha” and wondered “what did it have to do with aloha?” though she has not seen the movie, she said.

Some of the public criticism has centered on the use of the word “aloha” in connection with a moneymaking venture.

It doesn’t seem to be a problem when local businesses use the word, as online state business registration records show there are 8,929 business names that begin with the word.

Eldredge did not name her company, though it is unlikely a Hawaii resident would take issue with a hula supply business having “aloha” in its name.

“I believe Kimo Keaulana helped to name the business,” she said. Keaulana is an assistant professor of Hawaiian language at Honolulu Community College and also is a traditional Hawaiian musician.

It was “based on being aloha. We want you to have a good experience,” so aloha is the focal point of the store’s customer service, she said.

“Buy Local” runs on Aloha Fridays. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.